The country benefits from rich natural resources, a highly literate population, an export-oriented agricultural sector, and a diversified industrial base. Argentina's economic performance has historically been very uneven, in which high economic growth alternated with severe recessions, particularly during the late twentieth century, and income maldistribution and poverty increased. Early in the twentieth century Argentina had one of the highest per capita GDP levels in the world and the third largest economy in the developing world.[25] Today a high-income economy, Argentina maintains a relatively high quality of life and GDP per capita.[26]

Prior to the 1880s, Argentina was a relatively isolated backwater, dependent on the salted meat, wool, leather, and hide industries for both the greater part of its foreign exchange and the generation of domestic income and profits. The Argentine economy began to experience swift growth after 1880 through the export of livestock and grain commodities,[27] as well as through British and French investment, marking the beginning of a fifty-year era of significant economic expansion and mass European immigration.[28]

During its most vigorous period, from 1880 to 1905, this expansion resulted in a 7.5-fold growth in GDP, averaging about 8% annually.[29] One important measure of development, GDP per capita, rose from 35% of the United States average to about 80% during that period.[29] Growth then slowed considerably, such that by 1941 Argentina's real per capita GDP was roughly half that of the U.S.[25] Even so, from 1890 to 1950 the country's per capita income was similar to that of Western Europe;[25] although income in Argentina remained considerably less evenly distributed.[27]

The Great Depression caused Argentine GDP to fall by a fourth between 1929 and 1932. Having recovered its lost ground by the late 1930s partly through import substitution, the economy continued to grow modestly during World War II (in contrast to the recession caused by the previous world war),[30] the war led to a reduced availability of imports and higher prices for Argentine exports that combined to create a US$1.6 billion cumulative surplus,[30] a third of which was blocked as inconvertible deposits in the Bank of England by the Roca–Runciman Treaty.[28] Benefiting from innovative self-financing and government loans alike, value added in manufacturing nevertheless surpassed that of agriculture for the first time in 1943, employed over 1 million by 1947,[31] and allowed the need for imported consumer goods to decline from 40% of the total to 10% by 1950.[28]

The populist administration of Juan Perónnationalized the Central Bank, railways, and other strategic industries and services from 1945 to 1955. The subsequent enactment of developmentalism after 1958, though partial, was followed by a promising fifteen years. Inflation first became a chronic problem during this period[30] (it averaged 26% annually from 1944 to 1974);[32] but though it did not become fully "developed," from 1932 to 1974 Argentina's economy grew almost fivefold (or 3.8% in annual terms) while its population only doubled.[32] While unremarkable, this expansion was well-distributed and so resulted in several noteworthy changes in Argentine society - most notably the development of the largest proportional middle class (40% of the population by the 1960s) in Latin America[32] as well as the region's highest-paid, most unionized working class.[33]

External economic shocks, as well as a dependency on volatile short-term capital and debt to maintain the overvalued fixed exchange rate, diluted benefits, causing erratic economic growth from 1995 and the eventual collapse in 2001,[37] that year and the next, the economy suffered its sharpest decline since 1930; by 2002, Argentina had defaulted on its debt, its GDP had declined by nearly 20% in four years, unemployment reached 25%, and the peso had depreciated 70% after being devalued and floated.[39]

The economy nearly doubled from 2002 to 2011, growing an average of 7.1% annually and around 9% for five consecutive years between 2003 and 2007.[39] Real wages rose by around 72% from their low point in 2003 to 2013,[43] the global recession did affect the economy in 2009, with growth slowing to nearly zero;[39] but high economic growth then resumed, and GDP expanded by around 9% in both 2010 and 2011.[39]Foreign exchange controls, austerity measures, persistent inflation, and downturns in Brazil, Europe, and other important trade partners, contributed to slower growth beginning in 2012, however.[44] Growth averaged just 1.3% from 2012 to 2014,[1] and rose to 2.4% in 2015.[3]

Holdouts controlling 7% of the bonds, including some small investors, hedge funds, and vulture funds[47][48][49][50] led by Paul Singer's Cayman Islands-based NML Capital Limited, rejected the 2005 and 2010 offers to exchange their defaulted bonds. Singer, who demanded US$832 million for Argentine bonds purchased for US$49 million in the secondary market in 2008,[51] attempted to seize Argentine government assets abroad[52] and sued to stop payments from Argentina to the 93% who had accepted the earlier swaps despite the steep discount.[53] Bondholders who instead accepted the 2005 offer of 30 cents on the dollar, had by 2012 received returns of about 90% according to estimates by Morgan Stanley.[54] Argentina settled with virtually all holdouts in February 2016 at a cost of US$9.3 billion; NML received US$2.4 billion, a 392% return on the original value of the bonds.[55]

While the Argentine Government considers debt left over from illegitimate governments unconstitutional odious debt,[56][57] it has continued servicing this debt despite the annual cost of around US$14 billion[58] and despite being nearly locked out of international credit markets with annual bond issues since 2002 averaging less than US$2 billion (which precludes most debt roll over).[59]

Argentina has nevertheless continued to hold successful bond issues,[60][61] as the country's stock market, consumer confidence, and overall economy continue to grow,[62][63] the country's successful, US$16.5 billion bond sale in April 2016 was the largest in emerging market history.[64]

Argentina is one of the world's major agricultural producers, ranking among the top producers in most of the following, exporters of beef, citrus fruit, grapes, honey, maize, sorghum, soybeans, squash, sunflower seeds, wheat, and yerba mate.[66] Agriculture accounted for 9% of GDP in 2010, and around one fifth of all exports (not including processed food and feed, which are another third). Commercial harvests reached 103 million tons in 2010, of which over 54 million were oilseeds (mainly soy and sunflower), and over 46 million were cereals (mainly maize, wheat, and sorghum).[67]

Soy and its byproducts, mainly animal feed and vegetable oils, are major export commodities with one fourth of the total; cereals added another 10%. Cattle-raising is also a major industry, though mostly for domestic consumption; beef, leather and dairy were 5% of total exports.[68] Sheep-raising and wool are important in Patagonia, though these activities have declined by half since 1990. Biodiesel, however, has become one of the fastest growing agro-industrial activities, with over US$2 billion in exports in 2011.[68]

Government policy towards the lucrative agrarian sector is a subject of, at times, contentious debate in Argentina. A grain embargo by farmers protesting an increase in export taxes for their products began in March 2008,[71] and, following a series of failed negotiations, strikes and lockouts largely subsided only with the 16 July, defeat of the export tax-hike in the Senate.[72]

Argentina's auto industry produced 791,000 motor vehicles in 2013, and exported 433,000 (mainly to Brazil, which in turn exported a somewhat larger number to Argentina); Argentina's domestic new auto market reached a record 964,000 in 2013.[78] Beverages are another significant sector, and Argentina has long been among the top five wine producing countries in the world; beer overtook wine production in 2000, and today leads by nearly two billion liters a year to one.[39] Other manufactured goods include: glass and cement; plastics and tires; lumber products; textiles; tobacco products; recording and print media; furniture; apparel and leather.[39]

Most manufacturing is organized in the 314 industrial parks operating nationwide as of 2012, a fourfold increase over the past decade.[79] Nearly half the industries are based in the Greater Buenos Aires area, although Córdoba, Rosario, and Ushuaia are also significant industrial centers; the latter city became the nation's leading center of electronics production during the 1980s.[80] The production of computers, laptops, and servers grew by 160% in 2011, to nearly 3.4 million units, and covered two-thirds of local demand.[81] Argentina has also become an important manufacturer of cell phones, providing about 80% of all devices sold in the country.[82] Another important rubric historically dominated by imports - farm machinery - was similarly replaced by domestic production, which covered 60% of demand by 2013.[83] Production of cell phones, computers, and similar products is actually an "assembly" industry, with the majority of the higher technology components being imported, and the designs of products originating from foreign countries. High labour costs for Argentina assembly work tend to limit product sales penetration to Latin America, where regional trade treaties exist.[citation needed]

Construction permits nationwide covered over 15 million m² (160 million ft²) in 2013. The construction sector accounts for over 5% of GDP, and two-thirds of construction is for residential buildings.[84]

Argentine electric output totaled over 133 billion Kwh in 2013.[39] This was generated in large part through well developed natural gas and hydroelectric resources. Nuclear energy is also of high importance,[85] and the country is one of the largest producers and exporters, alongside Canada and Russia of cobalt-60, a radioactiveisotope widely used in cancer therapy.

The service sector is the largest contributor to total GDP, accounting for over 60%. Argentina enjoys a diversified service sector, which includes well-developed social, corporate, financial, insurance, real estate, transport, communication services, and tourism.

The telecommunications sector has been growing at a fast pace, and the economy benefits from widespread access to communications services, these include: 77% of the population with access to mobile phones,[86] 95% of whom use smartphones;[87] Internet (over 32 million users, or 75% of the population);[88] and broadband services (accounting for nearly all 14 million accounts).[89] Regular telephone services, with 9.5 million lines,[90] and mail services are also robust. Total telecom revenues reached more than $17.8 billion in 2013,[91] and while only one in three retail stores in Argentina accepted online purchases in 2013 E-commerce reached US$4.5 billion in sales.[92]

Trade in services remained in deficit, however, with US$15 billion in service exports in 2013 and US$19 billion in imports.[18]Business Process Outsourcing became the leading Argentine service export, and reached US$3 billion.[93] Advertising revenues from contracts abroad were estimated at over US$1.2 billion.[94]

Tourism is an increasingly important sector and provided 4% of direct economic output (over US$17 billion) in 2012; around 70% of tourism sector activity by value is domestic.[95]

Argentine banking, whose deposits exceeded US$120 billion in December 2012,[96] developed around public sector banks, but is now dominated by the private sector. The private sector banks account for most of the 80 active institutions (over 4,000 branches) and holds nearly 60% of deposits and loans, and as many foreign-owned banks as local ones operate in the country,[97] the largest bank in Argentina by far, however, has long been the public Banco de la Nación Argentina. Not to be confused with the Central Bank, this institution now accounts for 30% of total deposits and a fifth of its loan portfolio.[97]

During the 1990s, Argentina's financial system was consolidated and strengthened. Deposits grew from less than US$15 billion in 1991 to over US$80 billion in 2000, while outstanding credit (70% of it to the private sector) tripled to nearly US$100 billion.[98]

The banks largely lent US dollars and took deposits in Argentine pesos, and when the peso lost most of its value in early 2002, many borrowers again found themselves hard pressed to keep up. Delinquencies tripled to about 37%,[98] over a fifth of deposits had been withdrawn by December 2001, when Economy MinisterDomingo Cavallo imposed a near freeze on cash withdrawals. The lifting of the restriction a year later was bittersweet, being greeted calmly, if with some umbrage, at not having these funds freed at their full U.S. dollar value.[99] Some fared worse, as owners of the now-defunct Velox Bank defrauded their clients of up to US$800 million.[100]

Credit in Argentina is still relatively tight. Lending has been increasing 40% a year since 2004, and delinquencies are down to less than 2%.[96] Still, credit outstanding to the private sector is, in real terms, slightly below its 1998 peak,[98] and as a percent of GDP (around 18%)[96] quite low by international standards, the prime rate, which had hovered around 10% in the 1990s, hit 67% in 2002. Although it returned to normal levels quickly, inflation, and more recently, global instability, have been affecting it again, the prime rate was over 20% for much of 2009, and around 17% since the first half of 2010.[96]

Partly a function of this and past instability, Argentines have historically held more deposits overseas than domestically, the estimated US$173 billion in overseas accounts and investment exceeded the domestic monetary base (M3) by nearly US$10 billion in 2012.[18]

According to World Economic Forum's 2017 Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report, tourism generated over US$22 billion, or 3.9% of GDP, and the industry employed more than 671,000 people, or approximately 3.7% of the total workforce.[101] Tourism from abroad contributed US$5.3 billion, having become the third largest source of foreign exchange in 2004. Around 5.7 million foreign visitors arrived in 2017, reflecting a doubling in visitors since 2002 despite a relative appreciation of the peso.[95]

Argentines, who have long been active travelers within their own country,[102] accounted for over 80%, and international tourism has also seen healthy growth (nearly doubling since 2001).[95] Stagnant for over two decades, domestic travel increased strongly in the last few years,[103] and visitors are flocking to a country seen as affordable, exceptionally diverse, and safe.[104]

Foreign tourism, both to and from Argentina, is increasing as well. INDEC recorded 5.2 million foreign tourist arrivals and 6.7 million departures in 2013; of these, 32% arrived from Brazil, 19% from Europe, 10% from the United States and Canada, 10% from Chile, 24% from the rest of the Western Hemisphere, and 5% from the rest of the world. Around 48% of visitors arrived by commercial flight, 40% by motor travel (mainly from neighboring Brazil), and 12% by sea.[105]Cruise liner arrivals are the fastest growing type of foreign tourism to Argentina; a total of 160 liners carrying 510,000 passengers arrived at the Port of Buenos Aires in 2013, an eightfold increase in a just a decade.[106]

Electricity generation in Argentina totaled 133.3 billion Kwh in 2013.[39] The electricity sector in Argentina constitutes the third largest power market in Latin America, it relies mostly on natural gas power generation (51%), hydroelectricity (28%), and oil-fired generation (12%).[107] Reserves of shale gas and oil in the Vaca Muerta oil field and elsewhere are estimated to be the world's third-largest.[74]

The first of the three nuclear reactors was inaugurated in 1974, and in 2015 nuclear power generated 5% of the country's energy output.[107]New renewable energy technologies are barely exploited, however, and the country still has a large untapped hydroelectric potential. Wind energy is the fastest growing among new renewable sources. Fifteen wind farms have been developed since 1994 in Argentina, the only country in the region to produce wind turbines, the 55 MW of installed capacity in these in 2010 will increase by 895 MW upon the completion of new wind farms begun that year.[108]Solar power is also being promoted with the goal of expanding installed solar capacity from 6 MW to 300, and total renewable energy capacity from 625 MW to 3,000 MW.[109]

Faced with rising electricity demand (over 5% annually) and declining reserve margins, the government of Argentina is in the process of commissioning large projects, both in the generation and transmission sectors. To keep up with rising demand, it is estimated that about 1,000 MW of new generation capacity are needed each year. An important number of these projects are being financed by the government through trust funds, while independent private initiative is still limited as it has not fully recovered yet from the effects of the Argentine economic crisis.

The electricity sector was unbundled in generation, transmission and distribution by the reforms carried out in the early 1990s. Generation occurs in a competitive and mostly liberalized market in which 75% of the generation capacity is owned by private utilities; in contrast, the transmission and distribution sectors are highly regulated and much less competitive than generation.

Argentina's transport infrastructure is relatively advanced, and at a higher standard than the rest of Latin America.[110] There are over 230,000 km (144,000 mi) of roads (not including private rural roads) of which 72,000 km (45,000 mi) are paved,[111] and 2,800 kilometres (1,700 mi) are expressways, many of which are privatized tollways.[112] Having tripled in length in the last decade, multilane expressways now connect several major cities with more under construction.[112][113] Expressways are, however, currently inadequate to deal with local traffic,[113] as over 12 million motor vehicles were registered nationally as of 2012 (the highest, proportionately, in the region).[114]

The railway network has a total length of 37,856 kilometres (23,523 mi), though at the network's peak this figure was 47,000 km (29,204 mi).[69][115] After decades of declining service and inadequate maintenance, most intercity passenger services shut down in 1992 following the privatization of the country's railways and the breaking up of the state rail company, while thousands of kilometers fell into disuse. Outside Greater Buenos Aires most rail lines still in operation are freight related, carrying around 23 million tons a year,[39][116] the metropolitan rail lines in and around Buenos Aires remained in great demand owing in part to their easy access to the Buenos Aires Underground, and the commuter rail network with its 833 kilometres (518 mi) length carries around 1.4 million passengers daily.[117]

Inaugurated in 1913, the Buenos Aires Underground was the first underground rail system built in Latin America, the Spanish speaking world and the Southern Hemisphere.[129] No longer the most extensive in South America, its 60 kilometres (37 mi) of track carry a million passengers daily.[130]

Argentina has around 11,000 km (6,835 mi) of navigable waterways, and these carry more cargo than do the country's freight railways.[131] This includes an extensive network of canals, though Argentina is blessed with ample natural waterways as well, the most significant among these being the Río de la Plata, Paraná, Uruguay, Río Negro, and Paraguay rivers. The Port of Buenos Aires, inaugurated in 1925, is the nation's largest; it handled 11 million tons of freight and transported 1.8 million passengers in 2013.[106]

Aerolíneas Argentinas is the country's main airline, providing both extensive domestic and international service. Austral Líneas Aéreas is Aerolíneas Argentinas' subsidiary, with a route system that covers almost all of the country. LADE is a military-run commercial airline that flies extensive domestic services. The nation's 33 airports handled air travel totalling 25.8 million passengers in 2013, of which domestic flights carried over 14.5 million; the nation's two busiest airports, Jorge Newbery and Ministro Pistarini International Airports, boarded around 9 million flights each.[132]

Argentine exports are fairly well diversified. However, although agricultural raw materials are over 20% of the total exports, agricultural goods still account for over 50% of exports when processed foods are included. Soy products alone (soybeans, vegetable oil) account for almost one fourth of the total. Cereals, mostly maize and wheat, which were Argentina's leading export during much of the twentieth century, make up less than one tenth now.[133]

Industrial goods today account for over a third of Argentine exports. Motor vehicles and auto parts are the leading industrial export, and over 12% of the total merchandise exports. Chemicals, steel, aluminum, machinery, and plastics account for most of the remaining industrial exports. Trade in manufactures has historically been in deficit for Argentina, however, and despite the nation's overall trade surplus, its manufacturing trade deficit exceeded US$30 billion in 2011.[134] Accordingly, the system of non-automatic import licensing was extended in 2011,[135] and regulations were enacted for the auto sector establishing a model by which a company's future imports would be determined by their exports (though not necessarily in the same rubric).[136]

A net energy importer until 1987, Argentina's fuel exports began increasing rapidly in the early 1990s and today account for about an eighth of the total; refined fuels make up about half of that. Exports of crude petroleum and natural gas have recently been around US$3 billion a year.[133] Rapidly growing domestic energy demand and a gradual decline in oil production, resulted in a US$3 billion energy trade deficit in 2011 (the first in 17 years)[137] and a US$6 billion energy deficit in 2013.[138]

Argentine imports have historically been dominated by the need for industrial and technological supplies, machinery, and parts, which have averaged US$50 billion since 2011 (two-thirds of total imports). Consumer goods including motor vehicles make up most of the rest.[133]Trade in services has historically in deficit for Argentina, and in 2013 this deficit widened to over US$4 billion with a record US$19 billion in service imports.[18] The nation's chronic current account deficit was reversed during the 2002 crisis, and an average current account surplus of US$7 billion was logged between 2002 and 2009; this surplus later narrowed considerably, and has been slightly negative since 2011.[139]

Foreign direct investment in Argentina is divided nearly evenly between manufacturing (36%), natural resources (34%), and services (30%). The chemical and plastics sector (10%) and the automotive sector (6%) lead foreign investment in local manufacturing; oil and gas (22%) and mining (5%), in natural resources; telecommunications (6%), finance (5%), and retail trade (4%), in services.[140] Spain was the leading source of foreign direct investment in Argentina, accounting for US$22 billion (28%) in 2009; the U.S. was the second leading source, with $13 billion (17%);[140] and China grew to become the third-largest source of FDI by 2011.[141] Investments from the Netherlands, Brazil, Chile, and Canada have also been significant; in 2012, foreign nationals held a total of around US$112 billion in direct investment.[18]

Several bilateral agreements play an important role in promoting U.S. private investment. Argentina has an Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) agreement and an active program with the U.S. Export-Import Bank. Under the 1994 U.S.–Argentina Bilateral Investment Treaty, U.S. investors enjoy national treatment in all sectors except shipbuilding, fishing, nuclear-power generation, and uranium production. The treaty allows for international arbitration of investment disputes.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) in Argentina, which averaged US$5.7 billion from 1992 to 1998 and reached in US$24 billion in 1999 (reflecting the purchase of 98% of YPF stock by Repsol), fell during the crisis to US$1.6 billion in 2003.[142] FDI then accelerated, reaching US$8 billion in 2008.[143] The global crisis cut this figure to US$4 billion in 2009; but inflows recovered to US$6.2 billion in 2010.[144] and US$8.7 billion in 2011, with FDI in the first half of 2012 up by a further 42%.[145]

FDI volume remained below the regional average as a percent of GDP even as it recovered, however; Kirchner Administration policies and difficulty in enforcing contractual obligations had been blamed for this modest performance.[146] The nature of foreign investment in Argentina nevertheless shifted significantly after 2000, and whereas over half of FDI during the 1990s consisted in privatizations and mergers and acquisitions, foreign investment in Argentina became the most technologically oriented in the region – with 51% of FDI in the form of medium and high-tech investment (compared to 36% in Brazil and 3% in Chile).[147]

The economic performance of Argentina (100 = Latin American average GDP per capita PPP)

The economy recovered strongly from the 2001–02 crisis, and was the 21st largest in purchasing power parity terms in 2011; its per capita income on a purchasing power basis was the highest in Latin America.[1] A lobby representing US creditors who refused to accept Argentina's debt-swap programmes has campaigned to have the country expelled from the G20,[148] these holdouts include numerous vulture funds which had rejected the 2005 offer, and had instead resorted to the courts in a bid for higher returns on their defaulted bonds. These disputes had led to a number of liens against central bank accounts in New York and, indirectly, to reduced Argentine access to international credit markets.[149]

Following 25 years of boom and bust stagnation, Argentina's economy doubled in size from 2002 to 2013,[1] and officially, income poverty declined from 54% in 2002 to 5% by 2013;[7] an alternative measurement conducted by CONICET found that income poverty declined instead to 15.4%.[150] Poverty measured by living conditions improved more slowly, however, decreasing from 17.7% in the 2001 Census to 12.5% in the 2010 Census.[151] Argentina's unemployment rate similarly declined from 25% in 2002 to an average of around 7% since 2011 largely because of both growing global demand for Argentine commodities and strong growth in domestic activity.[152]

Given its ongoing dispute with holdout bondholders, the government has become wary of sending assets to foreign countries (such as the presidential plane, or artworks sent to foreign exhibitions) in case they might be impounded by courts at the behest of holdouts.[153]

The government has been accused of manipulating economic statistics.[154]

Official CPI inflation figures released monthly by INDEC have been a subject of political controversy since 2007.[152][155][156] Official inflation data are disregarded by leading union leaders, even in the people sector, when negotiating pay rises,[157] some private-sector estimates put inflation for 2010 at around 25%, much higher than the official 10.9% rate for 2010.[157] Inflation estimates from Argentina's provinces are also higher than the government's figures,[157] the government stands by the validity of its data, but has called in the International Monetary Fund to help it design a new nationwide index to replace the current one.[157]

The official government CPI is calculated based on 520 products, however the controversy arises from these products not being specified, and thus how many of those products are subject to price caps and subsidies.[158] Economic analysts have been prosecuted for publishing estimates that disagree with official statistics,[159] the government enforces a fine of up to 500,000 pesos for providing what it calls "fraudulent inflation figures",.[157] Beginning in 2015, the government again began to call for competitive bids from the private sector to provide a weekly independent inflation index.[160]

High inflation has been a weakness of the Argentine economy for decades.[161] Inflation has been unofficially estimated to be running at around 25% annually since 2008, despite official statistics indicating less than half that figure;[162][163] these would be the highest levels since the 2002 devaluation.[161] A committee was established in 2010 in the Argentine Chamber of Deputies by opposition Deputies Patricia Bullrich, Ricardo Gil Lavedra, and others to publish an alternative index based on private estimates.[44] Food price increases, particularly that of beef, began to outstrip wage increases in 2010, leading Argentines to decrease beef consumption per capita from 69 kg (152 lb) to 57 kg (125 lb) annually and to increase consumption of other meats.[161][164]

Consumer inflation expectations of 28 to 30% led the national mint to buy banknotes of its highest denomination (100 pesos) from Brazil at the end of 2010 to keep up with demand, the central bank pumped at least 1 billion pesos into the economy in this way during 2011.[165]

As of June 2015[update], the government said that inflation was at 15.3%;[166] approximately half that of some independent estimates.[167] Inflation remained at around 18.6% in 2015 according to an IMF estimate;[168] but following a sharp devaluation enacted by the Mauricio Macri administration on December 17, inflation reignited during the first half of 2016 - reaching 42% according to the Finance Ministry.[169]

In relation to other Latin American countries, has a moderate to low level of income inequality, its Gini coefficient of about 0.427 (2014)[8] is reported to be the lowest among Latin American countries.[8] The social gap is worst in the suburbs of the capital, where beneficiaries of the economic rebound live in gated communities, and many of the poor (particularly undocumented immigrants) live in slums known as villas miserias.[171]

In the mid-1970s, the most affluent 10% of Argentina's population had an income 12 times that of the poorest 10%, that figure had grown to 18 times by the mid-1990s, and by 2002, the peak of the crisis, the income of the richest segment of the population was 43 times that of the poorest.[171] These heightened levels of inequality had improved to 26 times by 2006,[172] and to 16 times at the end of 2010.[173] Economic recovery after 2002 was thus accompanied by significant improvement in income distribution: in 2002, the richest 10% absorbed 40% of all income, compared to 1.1% for the poorest 10%;[174] by 2010, the former received 29% of income, and the latter, 1.8%.[173]

Argentina has an inequality-adjusted human development index of 0.680, compared to 0.542 and 0.661 for neighboring Brazil and Chile, respectively.[175] The 2010 Census found that poverty by living conditions still affect 1 in 8 inhabitants, however;[151] and while the official, household survey income poverty rate (based on U$S 100 per person per month, net) was 4.7% in 2013,[7] the National Research Council estimated income poverty in 2010 at 22.6%,[150] with private consulting firms estimating that in 2011 around 21% fell below the income poverty line.[176] The World Bank estimated that, in 2013, 3.6% subsisted on less than US$3.10 per person per day.[177]

1.
Buenos Aires Central Business District
–
The Buenos Aires Central Business District is the main commercial centre of Buenos Aires, Argentina, though not an official city ward. The Microcentro has a concentration of offices, service companies and banks. The area was the site of the first European settlement in what later became Buenos Aires, the district is the financial, corporate, and cultural hub of Buenos Aires, and of Argentina. The Buenos Aires Human Development Index is likewise high by international standards, the Port of Buenos Aires is one of the busiest in South America, navigable rivers by way of the Río de la Plata connect the port to northeastern Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay. As a result, it serves as the hub for a vast area of the south-eastern region of the South American continent. Tax collection related to the port has caused political problems in the past. These latter were all built on reclaimed land along the coast of the Rio de la Plata, the region was formerly crossed by different creeks and lagoons, some of which were refilled and other tubed. Among the most important creeks are, Maldonado, Vega, Medrano, Cildañez, in 1908 many creeks were channeled and rectified, as floods were damaging the citys infrastructure. Starting in 1919, most creeks were enclosed, notably, the Maldonado was tubed in 1954, and currently runs below Juan B. Facing the Río de la Plata estuary, the frontage remained flood-prone, italian and French influences increased after the overthrow of strongman Juan Manuel de Rosas in 1852, and particularly upon the advent of the modernizing Generation of 1880. Later significant additions include those by Alejandro Christophersen, Alejandro Bustillo, Andrés Kalnay, Eduardo Le Monnier, some of the more notable commercial developments completed since then have included the Catalinas Norte office park, Torre Bouchard, Bouchard Plaza, Galicia Tower, the Repsol-YPF Tower. San Nicolás is one of the districts that shares most of the city and national government structure with neighboring Montserrat and its seldom referred to as San Nicolás, but usually as The Center, and the part east of the 9 de Julio Avenue is called Microcentro. The growing importance of the area as a center was highlighted by the 1854 establishment of the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange. San Nicolás remains the center of Argentina, something underscored by the presence of the Central Bank. The construction of Corrientes and Nueve de Julio Avenues in the 1930s further modernized San Nicolás, florida Street, most of which is in San Nicolás, is the citys best-known pedestrianized street. Its most discernible landmark is the Galerías Pacífico shopping arcade, Retiro is one of the largest hubs of transportation services in Argentina. Local and long distance rail service heading to the north originate from Estación Retiro, subte line C of the Buenos Aires Metro system and numerous local public bus services serve Retiro, and this area is always teeming with commuters and traffic on weekdays. The most important avenue linking Retiro and the CBD to commuters living in areas to the north is Avenida del Libertador

2.
Argentine peso
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The peso is the currency of Argentina, identified by the symbol $ preceding the amount in the same way as many countries using dollar currencies. It is subdivided into 100 centavos and its ISO4217 code is ARS. Several earlier currencies of Argentina were also called peso, as inflation progressed a new currency with a few zeroes dropped, since 1970, thirteen zeroes have been dropped. As of October 2014, the rate was about 8 pesos per dollar, by February 2015, it was 10 per US dollar. The peso introduced in 1992 is just called peso, and is preceded by a $ sign only. The peso was an often used for the silver Spanish eight-real coin. Following independence, Argentina began issuing its own coins, denominated in reales, soles and escudos and these coins, together with those from neighbouring countries, circulated until 1881. In 1826, two paper money issues began, denominated in pesos, one, the peso fuerte was a convertible currency, with 17 pesos fuertes equal to one Spanish ounce of 0.916 fine gold. It was replaced by the peso moneda nacional at par in 1881, the non-convertible peso moneda corriente was also introduced in 1826. It started at par with the peso fuerte, but depreciated with time, although the Argentine Confederation issued 1-, 2- and 4-centavo coins in 1854, with 100 centavos equal to 1 peso =8 reales, Argentina did not decimalize until 1881. The peso moneda nacional replaced the earlier currencies at the rate of 1 peso moneda nacional =8 reales =1 peso fuerte =25 peso moneda corriente, initially, one peso moneda nacional coin was made of silver and known as patacón. However, the 1890 economic crisis ensured that no silver coins were issued. At the beginning of the 20th century, the Argentine peso was one of the most traded currencies in the world. The Argentine gold coin from 1875 was the gold peso fuerte, one and two-thirds of a gram of gold of fineness 900, equivalent to one and this unit was based on that recommended by the European Congress of Economists in Paris in 1867 and adopted by Japan in 1873. The monetary system before 1881 has been described as anarchistic. Law 1130 of 1881 put an end to this, it established the unit as the peso oro sellado, a coin of 1.612 grams of gold of fineness 900. Gold coins of 5 and 2.5 pesos were to be used, silver coins of one peso and 50,20,10 and 5 centavos, the depreciated peso moneda corriente was replaced in 1881 by the paper peso moneda nacional at a rate of 25 to 1. This currency was used from 1881 until January 1,1970 The design was changed in 1899, initially the peso m$n was convertible, with a value of one peso oro sellado

3.
Fiscal year
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A fiscal year is the period used by governments for accounting and budget purposes, which vary between countries. It is also used for reporting by business and other organizations. Taxation laws generally require accounting records to be maintained and taxes calculated on an annual basis, the calculation of tax on an annual basis is especially relevant for direct taxation, such as income tax. Many annual government fees—such as Council rates, licence fees, etc. —are also levied on a year basis. The fiscal year end is the date marks the end of the fiscal year. Some companies—such as Cisco Systems—end their fiscal year on the day of the week each year. Under such a system, some years will have 52 weeks. Many universities have a year which ends during the summer. In the northern hemisphere this is July to the next June, in the southern hemisphere this is calendar year, January to December. Some media/communication-based organizations use a broadcast calendar as the basis for their fiscal year, the American football league NFL uses the term league year, which in effect forms the leagues fiscal year. In Afghanistan, the year was recently changed from 1 Hamal –29 Hoot to 1 Jadi –30 Qaus. The fiscal year runs with the Afghan calendar, thus resulting in difference of the Gregorian dates once in a four-year span, in Australia, a fiscal year is commonly called a financial year and starts on 1 July and ends on the next 30 June. Financial years are designated by the year of the second half of the period. For example, financial year 2017 is the 12-month period ending on 30 June 2017 and it is used for official purposes, by individual taxpayers and by the overwhelming majority of business enterprises. Business enterprises may opt to use a year that ends at the end of a week. All entities within the one group must use the financial year. The Commonwealth adopted the near-ubiquitous financial year standard since its inception in 1901, the reason given for the change was for convenience, as Parliament typically sits during May and June, while it was difficult for it to meet in November and December to pass a budget. In Austria the fiscal year is the year,1 January to 31 December

4.
World Trade Organization
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The World Trade Organization is an intergovernmental organization which regulates international trade. The WTO officially commenced on 1 January 1995 under the Marrakesh Agreement, signed by 123 nations on 15 April 1994, replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, most of the issues that the WTO focuses on derive from previous trade negotiations, especially from the Uruguay Round. The WTO is attempting to complete negotiations on the Doha Development Round, as of June 2012, the future of the Doha Round remained uncertain, the work programme lists 21 subjects in which the original deadline of 1 January 2005 was missed, and the round is still incomplete. This impasse has made it impossible to launch new WTO negotiations beyond the Doha Development Round, as a result, there have been an increasing number of bilateral free trade agreements between governments. As of July 2012, there were various groups in the WTO system for the current agricultural trade negotiation which is in the condition of stalemate. The WTOs current Director-General is Roberto Azevêdo, who leads a staff of over 600 people in Geneva, a trade facilitation agreement, part of the Bali Package of decisions, was agreed by all members on 7 December 2013, the first comprehensive agreement in the organizations history. Seven rounds of negotiations occurred under GATT, the first real GATT trade rounds concentrated on further reducing tariffs. Then, the Kennedy Round in the mid-sixties brought about a GATT anti-dumping Agreement, because these plurilateral agreements were not accepted by the full GATT membership, they were often informally called codes. Several of these codes were amended in the Uruguay Round, only four remained plurilateral, but in 1997 WTO members agreed to terminate the bovine meat and dairy agreements, leaving only two. Well before GATTs 40th anniversary, its members concluded that the GATT system was straining to adapt to a new globalizing world economy. In response to the problems identified in the 1982 Ministerial Declaration, the GATT still exists as the WTOs umbrella treaty for trade in goods, updated as a result of the Uruguay Round negotiations. GATT1994 is not however the only legally binding agreement included via the Final Act at Marrakesh, the highest decision-making body of the WTO is the Ministerial Conference, which usually meets every two years. It brings together all members of the WTO, all of which are countries or customs unions, the Ministerial Conference can take decisions on all matters under any of the multilateral trade agreements. When agricultural export subsidies were agreed to be phased out and adoption of the European Unions Everything, the WTO launched the current round of negotiations, the Doha Development Round, at the fourth ministerial conference in Doha, Qatar in November 2001. This was to be an effort to make globalization more inclusive and help the worlds poor, particularly by slashing barriers. The initial agenda comprised both further trade liberalization and new rule-making, underpinned by commitments to strengthen substantial assistance to developing countries. Among the various functions of the WTO, these are regarded by analysts as the most important and it provides a forum for negotiations and for settling disputes. Another priority of the WTO is the assistance of developing, least-developed and low-income countries in transition to adjust to WTO rules and disciplines through technical cooperation and training

5.
Mercosur
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Mercosur or Mercosul is a sub-regional bloc. Its full members are Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and its associate countries are Bolivia, Chile, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador and Suriname. Observer countries are New Zealand and Mexico and its purpose is to promote free trade and the fluid movement of goods, people, and currency. The official languages are Spanish, Portuguese and Guarani and it has been updated, amended, and changed many times since. It is now a customs union and a trading bloc. Mercosur and the Andean Community of Nations are customs unions that are components of a process of South American integration connected to the Union of South American Nations. Mercosur was established in 1991 by the Treaty of Asunción, which was amended and updated by the 1994 Treaty of Ouro Preto. Mercosur originated in 1988, when presidents Raúl Alfonsín of Argentina and José Sarney of Brazil signed the Argentina-Brazil Integration, the program also proposed the Gaucho as a currency for regional trade. The founding of the Mercosur Parliament was agreed upon at the December 2004 presidential summit and it was expected to have 18 representatives from each country by 2010, regardless of population. The presidents of the Mercosur countries said on July 2013 that they would lift the suspension after the inauguration of Paraguays newly elected President, Mr. Cartes, however, Paraguay said it would not return to the Mercosur fold as long as Venezuela held its rotating presidency. Venezuela holds Mercosurs rotating presidency until July 2014, Foreign Minister Eladio Loizaga said he would rather deal with Paraguays neighbours individually at first. We have pending issues with Argentina, with Uruguay, we have to all that. Mercosur will be later because our priority are the bilateral relations, on 7 December 2012, Bolivian President Evo Morales signed a protocol aimed at accession to full membership of the block. Such a proposal requires review and possible legislative approval, on July 7 of 2015, the heads of Mercosur having decided to accept Bolivias request to become a full member country, Bolivian president Evo Morales signed the Brasilia protocol. This acted Bolivias full membership to the Mercosur, on August 2016, the presidents of Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay, while present in Rio de Janeiro for the Olympic Games, met to discuss suspending Venezuela from Mercosur. The three countries are in doubt about whether Venezuela is complying with the requirements for full membership. In fact, Venezuela was rejected from assuming the presidency of Mercosur by those three countries, prompting a dispute that continues in full throttle to the end of the year, on 1 December 2016, Venezuela was suspended from Mercosur. Venezuela had four years to adapt to the trade bloc regulations and failed to do so

6.
Union of South American Nations
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The Union of South American Nations is an intergovernmental regional organization comprising 12 South American countries. The UNASUR Constitutive Treaty was signed on 23 May 2008, at the Third Summit of Heads of State, held in Brasília, according to the Constitutive Treaty, the Unions headquarters will be located in Quito, Ecuador. On 1 December 2010, Uruguay became the state to ratify the UNASUR treaty. The South American Parliament will be located in Cochabamba, Bolivia, while the headquarters of its bank, Panama and Mexico attended the signing ceremony as observers. The group announced their intention to model the new community after the European Union including a common currency, parliament, according to Allan Wagner Tizón, former Secretary General of the Andean Community, a complete union like that of the EU should be possible by 2019. The mechanics of the new entity came out of the First South American Community of Nations Heads of State Summit, a notable early exponent of this trend was Francisco de Miranda, who envisioned a federated republic encompassing all of Hispanic America, which he called Colombia. In 1826, Bolívar summoned a conference to be held in Panama, the Congress was attended by Gran Colombia, the Federal Republic of Central America, the United Mexican States, and Peru. The ostensible intention was to form a league that could prevent foreign expansionism. The Congress conclusions, however, were not ratified by the participants, soon after, both Gran Colombia and the United Provinces of Central America fell apart and the whole of Hispanic America was balkanized by competing national governments. By the 1990s, however, Brazil had consolidated as the most powerful country in South America, the project did not take hold until the United States foreign policy priorities turned to other regions in the 2000s. The complete integration between the Andean Community and the Mercosur nations was formalized during the meeting of South American heads of state took place on 23 May 2008 in Brasília. Panama and Mexico were present as observers, the leaders announced the intention of modeling the new community in the mold of the European Union, including a unified passport, a parliament and, eventually, a single currency. The then Secretary General of the Andean Community Allan Wagner speculated that a union such as the EU should be possible within the next fifteen years. S. A. Would be easily confused for the United States of America, in the press, the phrase United States of South America was bandied about as an analogy to the United States to reflect the economic and political power that the union would have on the world stage. The name was changed on 16 April 2007 to Union of South American Nations. The new name was agreed by all member states during the first day of meeting at the First South American Energy Summit, held at Isla Margarita. At the moment, the structure of the UNASUR is as follows, A permanent Secretariat is to be established in Quito. The Secretary General, with a mandate, is to be elected on a consensual basis among the Heads of State of the member states

7.
Gross domestic product
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Gross Domestic Product is a monetary measure of the market value of all final goods and services produced in a period. Nominal GDP estimates are used to determine the economic performance of a whole country or region. The OECD defines GDP as a measure of production equal to the sum of the gross values added of all resident and institutional units engaged in production. ”An IMF publication states that GDP measures the monetary value of final goods and services - that is. Total GDP can also be broken down into the contribution of industry or sector of the economy. The ratio of GDP to the population of the region is the per capita GDP. William Petty came up with a concept of GDP to defend landlords against unfair taxation during warfare between the Dutch and the English between 1652 and 1674. Charles Davenant developed the method further in 1695, the modern concept of GDP was first developed by Simon Kuznets for a US Congress report in 1934. In this report, Kuznets warned against its use as a measure of welfare, after the Bretton Woods conference in 1944, GDP became the main tool for measuring a countrys economy. The switch from GNP to GDP in the US was in 1991, the history of the concept of GDP should be distinguished from the history of changes in ways of estimating it. The value added by firms is relatively easy to calculate from their accounts, but the value added by the sector, by financial industries. GDP can be determined in three ways, all of which should, in principle, give the same result and they are the production approach, the income approach, or the expenditure approach. The most direct of the three is the approach, which sums the outputs of every class of enterprise to arrive at the total. The income approach works on the principle that the incomes of the factors must be equal to the value of their product. This approach mirrors the OECD definition given above, deduct intermediate consumption from gross value to obtain the gross value added. Gross value added = gross value of output – value of intermediate consumption, value of output = value of the total sales of goods and services plus value of changes in the inventories. The sum of the value added in the various economic activities is known as GDP at factor cost. GDP at factor cost plus indirect taxes less subsidies on products = GDP at producer price, for measuring output of domestic product, economic activities are classified into various sectors. Subtracting each sectors intermediate consumption from gross output gives the GDP at factor cost, adding indirect tax minus subsidies in GDP at factor cost gives the GDP at producer prices

8.
Purchasing power parity
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Observed deviations of the exchange rate from purchasing power parity are measured by deviations of the real exchange rate from its PPP value of 1. PPP exchange rates help to minimize misleading international comparisons that can arise with the use of exchange rates. For example, suppose that two countries produce the same amounts of goods as each other in each of two different years. But if one countrys GDP is converted into the countrys currency using PPP exchange rates instead of observed market exchange rates. The idea originated with the School of Salamanca in the 16th century, the best-known purchasing power adjustment is the Geary–Khamis dollar. The real exchange rate is equal to the nominal exchange rate. If purchasing power parity held exactly, then the exchange rate would always equal one. However, in practice the exchange rates exhibit both short run and long run deviations from this value, for example due to reasons illuminated in the Balassa–Samuelson theorem. There can be marked differences between purchasing power adjusted incomes and those converted via market exchange rates. This discrepancy has large implications, for instance, when converted via the exchange rates GDP per capita in India is about US$1,965 while on a PPP basis it is about US$7,197. At the other extreme, Denmarks nominal GDP per capita is around US$62,100, the purchasing power parity exchange rate serves two main functions. PPP exchange rates can be useful for making comparisons between countries because they stay fairly constant from day to day or week to week and only change modestly, if at all, from year to year. The PPP exchange-rate calculation is controversial because of the difficulties of finding comparable baskets of goods to compare purchasing power across countries, people in different countries typically consume different baskets of goods. It is necessary to compare the cost of baskets of goods and this is a difficult task because purchasing patterns and even the goods available to purchase differ across countries. Thus, it is necessary to make adjustments for differences in the quality of goods, furthermore, the basket of goods representative of one economy will vary from that of another, Americans eat more bread, Chinese more rice. Hence a PPP calculated using the US consumption as a base will differ from that calculated using China as a base, additional statistical difficulties arise with multilateral comparisons when more than two countries are to be compared. Various ways of averaging bilateral PPPs can provide a stable multilateral comparison. These are all issues of indexing, as with other price indices there is no way to reduce complexity to a single number that is equally satisfying for all purposes

9.
Inflation
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In economics, inflation is a sustained increase in the general price level of goods and services in an economy over a period of time resulting in a loss of value of currency. When the price rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods. Consequently, inflation reflects a reduction in the power per unit of money – a loss of real value in the medium of exchange. A chief measure of inflation is the inflation rate, the annualized percentage change in a general price index, usually the consumer price index. The opposite of inflation is deflation, Inflation affects economies in various positive and negative ways. Economists generally believe that high rates of inflation and hyperinflation are caused by a growth of the money supply. However, money supply growth does not necessarily cause inflation, some economists maintain that under the conditions of a liquidity trap, large monetary injections are like pushing on a string. Views on which factors determine low to moderate rates of inflation are more varied, low or moderate inflation may be attributed to fluctuations in real demand for goods and services, or changes in available supplies such as during scarcities. However, the view is that a long sustained period of inflation is caused by money supply growing faster than the rate of economic growth. Today, most economists favor a low and steady rate of inflation, the task of keeping the rate of inflation low and stable is usually given to monetary authorities. Rapid increases in quantity of the money or in the money supply have occurred in many different societies throughout history. By diluting the gold with other metals, the government could issue more coins without also needing to increase the amount of used to make them. When the cost of each coin is lowered in this way and this practice would increase the money supply but at the same time the relative value of each coin would be lowered. As the relative value of the coins becomes lower, consumers would need to give more coins in exchange for the same goods and these goods and services would experience a price increase as the value of each coin is reduced. Song Dynasty China introduced the practice of printing paper money in order to create fiat currency, during the Mongol Yuan Dynasty, the government spent a great deal of money fighting costly wars, and reacted by printing more money, leading to inflation. Fearing the inflation that plagued the Yuan dynasty, the Ming Dynasty initially rejected the use of paper money, historically, large infusions of gold or silver into an economy also led to inflation. This was largely caused by the influx of gold and silver from the New World into Habsburg Spain. The silver spread throughout a previously cash-starved Europe and caused widespread inflation, demographic factors also contributed to upward pressure on prices, with European population growth after depopulation caused by the Black Death pandemic

10.
Poverty threshold
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The poverty threshold, poverty limit or poverty line is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. In practice, like the definition of poverty, the official or common understanding of the poverty line is higher in developed countries than in developing countries. In 2008, the World Bank came out with a figure of $1.25 at 2005 purchasing-power parity, the new IPL replaces the $1.25 per day figure, which used 2005 data. Most scholars agree that it better reflects todays reality, particularly new price levels in developing countries, the common international poverty line has in the past been roughly $1 a day. At present the percentage of the population living under extreme poverty is likely to fall below 10% according to the World Bank projections released in 2015. Determining the poverty line is usually done by finding the total cost of all the resources that an average human adult consumes in one year. Individual factors are used to account for various circumstances, such as whether one is a parent, elderly. The poverty threshold may be adjusted annually, charles Booth, a pioneering investigator of poverty in London at the turn of the 20th century, popularised the idea of a poverty line, a concept originally conceived by the London School Board. Booth set the line at 10 to 20 shillings per week, to secure the necessaries of a healthy life, which included fuel and light, rent, food, clothing, and household and personal items. Based on data from leading nutritionists of the period, he calculated the cheapest price for the minimum calorific intake and nutritional balance necessary and he considered this amount to set his poverty line and concluded that 27. 84% of the total population of York lived below this poverty line. Rowntree distinguished between primary poverty, those lacking in income and secondary poverty, those who had enough income, Absolute poverty is the level of poverty as defined in terms of the minimal requirements necessary to afford minimal standards of food, clothing, health care and shelter. For the measure to be absolute, the line must be the same in different countries, cultures, such an absolute measure should look only at the individuals power to consume and it should be independent of any changes in income distribution. Notice that if real income in an economy increases. Measuring poverty by a threshold has the advantage of applying the same standard across different locations and time periods. For example, a living in far northern Scandinavia requires a source of heat during colder months. The term absolute poverty is sometimes used as a synonym for extreme poverty. Absolute poverty is the absence of resources to secure basic life necessities. It depends not only on income but also on access to services, safe drinking water, Water must not come solely from rivers and ponds, and must be available nearby

11.
Gini coefficient
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The Gini coefficient is a measure of statistical dispersion intended to represent the income or wealth distribution of a nations residents, and is the most commonly used measure of inequality. It was developed by the Italian statistician and sociologist Corrado Gini, the Gini coefficient measures the inequality among values of a frequency distribution. A Gini coefficient of zero expresses perfect equality, where all values are the same, a Gini coefficient of 1 expresses maximal inequality among values. However, a greater than one may occur if some persons represent negative contribution to the total. For larger groups, values close to or above 1 are very unlikely in practice, the exception to this is in the redistribution of wealth resulting in a minimum income for all people. When the population is sorted, if their distribution were to approximate a well known function. The Gini coefficient was proposed by Gini as a measure of inequality of income or wealth, the global income Gini coefficient in 2005 has been estimated to be between 0.61 and 0.68 by various sources. There are some issues in interpreting a Gini coefficient, the same value may result from many different distribution curves. The demographic structure should be taken into account, Countries with an aging population, or with a baby boom, experience an increasing pre-tax Gini coefficient even if real income distribution for working adults remains constant. Scholars have devised over a dozen variants of the Gini coefficient, the line at 45 degrees thus represents perfect equality of incomes. The Gini coefficient can then be thought of as the ratio of the area lies between the line of equality and the Lorenz curve over the total area under the line of equality. It is also equal to 2A and to 1 - 2B due to the fact that A + B =0.5. If all people have non-negative income, the Gini coefficient can theoretically range from 0 to 1, in practice, both extreme values are not quite reached. If negative values are possible, then the Gini coefficient could theoretically be more than 1, normally the mean is assumed positive, which rules out a Gini coefficient less than zero. An alternative approach would be to consider the Gini coefficient as half of the mean absolute difference. The effects of income policy due to redistribution can be seen in the linear relationships. An informative simplified case just distinguishes two levels of income, low and high, if the high income group is u % of the population and earns a fraction f % of all income, then the Gini coefficient is f − u. An actual more graded distribution with these same values u and f will always have a higher Gini coefficient than f − u, the proverbial case where the richest 20% have 80% of all income would lead to an income Gini coefficient of at least 60%

12.
Food processing
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Food processing is the transformation of raw ingredients, by physical or chemical means into food, or of food into other forms. Food processing combines raw food ingredients to produce food products that can be easily prepared and served by the consumer. Salt-preservation was especially common for foods that constituted warrior and sailors diets until the introduction of canning methods and these tried and tested processing techniques remained essentially the same until the advent of the industrial revolution. Examples of ready-meals also date back to before the preindustrial revolution, both during ancient times and today in modern society these are considered processed foods. Modern food processing technology developed in the 19th and 20th centuries was developed in a part to serve military needs. Although initially expensive and somewhat hazardous due to the used in cans. Pasteurization, discovered by Louis Pasteur in 1864, improved the quality of preserved foods and introduced the wine, beer, in the late 20th century, products such as dried instant soups, reconstituted fruits and juices, and self cooking meals such as MRE food ration were developed. In western Europe and North America, the half of the 20th century witnessed a rise in the pursuit of convenience. Food processing companies marketed their products especially towards middle-class working wives, frozen foods found their success in sales of juice concentrates and TV dinners. Processors utilised the perceived value of time to appeal to the population. Benefits of food processing include toxin removal, preservation, easing marketing and distribution tasks, modern supermarkets would not exist without modern food processing techniques, and long voyages would not be possible. Processed foods are less susceptible to early spoilage than fresh foods and are better suited for long distance transportation from the source to the consumer. When they were first introduced, some processed foods helped to alleviate food shortages, processing can also reduce the incidence of food borne disease. Fresh materials, such as produce and raw meats, are more likely to harbour pathogenic micro-organisms capable of causing serious illnesses. The extremely varied modern diet is only possible on a wide scale because of food processing. Transportation of more exotic foods, as well as the elimination of much hard labour gives the modern eater easy access to a variety of food unimaginable to their ancestors. The act of processing can often improve the taste of food significantly, mass production of food is much cheaper overall than individual production of meals from raw ingredients. Therefore, a profit potential exists for the manufacturers and suppliers of processed food products

13.
Drink
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A drink or beverage is a liquid intended for human consumption. In addition to their function of satisfying thirst, drinks play important roles in human culture. Common types of drinks include plain water, milk, juices, coffee, tea, in addition, alcoholic drinks such as wine, beer, and liquor, which contain the drug ethanol, have been part of human culture and development for 8,000 years. Non-alcoholic drinks often signify drinks that would normally contain alcohol, such as beer, the category includes drinks that have undergone an alcohol removal process such as non-alcoholic beers and de-alcoholized wines. When the human body becomes dehydrated it experiences the sensation of thirst and this craving of fluids results in an instinctive need to drink. Thirst is regulated by the hypothalamus in response to changes in the bodys electrolyte levels. The complete elimination of drinks, i. e. water, Water and milk have been basic drinks throughout history. As water is essential for life, it has also been the carrier of many diseases, as mankind evolved, new techniques were discovered to create drinks from the plants that were native to their areas. The earliest archaeological evidence of wine production yet found has been at sites in Georgia, beer may have been known in Neolithic Europe as far back as 3000 BCE, and was mainly brewed on a domestic scale. The invention of beer has been argued to be responsible for humanitys ability to develop technology, tea likely originated in Yunnan, China during the Shang Dynasty as a medicinal drink. Drinking has been a part of socialising throughout the centuries. In Ancient Greece, a gathering for the purpose of drinking was known as a symposium. The purpose of these gatherings could be anything from serious discussions to direct indulgence, in Ancient Rome, a similar concept of a convivium took place regularly. Many early societies considered alcohol a gift from the gods, leading to the creation of such as Dionysus. Other religions forbid, discourage, or restrict the drinking of alcoholic drinks for various reasons, in some regions with a dominant religion the production, sale, and consumption of alcoholic drinks is forbidden to everybody, regardless of religion. Toasting is a method of honouring a person or wishing good will by taking a drink, another tradition is that of the loving cup, at weddings or other celebrations such as sports victories a group will share a drink in a large receptacle, shared by everyone until empty. In East Africa and Yemen, coffee was used in religious ceremonies. As these ceremonies conflicted with the beliefs of the Christian church, the drink was also banned in Ottoman Turkey during the 17th century for political reasons and was associated with rebellious political activities in Europe

14.
Motor vehicle
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For legal purposes motor vehicles are often identified within a number of vehicle classes including cars, buses, motorcycles, off-road vehicles, light trucks and regular trucks. These classifications vary according to the codes of each country. ISO3833,1977 is the standard for road vehicles types, terms, as of 2010 there were more than one billion motor vehicles in use in the world excluding off-road vehicles and heavy construction equipment. Global vehicle ownership per capita in 2010 was 148 vehicles in operation per 1000 people, the United States has the largest fleet of motor vehicles in the world, with 239.8 million in 2010. Vehicle ownership per capita in the US is also the highest in the world with 769 vehicles in operation per 1000 people. The Peoples Republic of China has the second largest fleet in the world, with more than 78 million vehicles. In 2011, a total of 80 million cars and commercial vehicles were built, led by China, the US publisher Wards, estimate that as of 2010 there were 1.015 billion motor vehicles in use in the world. This figure represents the number of cars, light, medium and heavy duty trucks, and buses, the world vehicle population passed the 500 million-unit mark in 1986, from 250 million motor vehicles in 1970. Between 1950 and 1970, the population doubled roughly every 10 years. Two US researchers estimate that the fleet will reach 2 billion motor vehicles by 2020. Navigant Consulting forecasts that the stock of light-duty motor vehicles will reach 2 billion units in 2035. The global rate of motorization increased in 2013 to 174 vehicles per 1000 inhabitants, in developing countries vehicle ownership rates rarely exceed 200 cars per 1,000 population. The five largest markets, Germany, Italy, France, the UK, the EU-27 member countries had in 2009 an estimated ownership rate of 473 passenger cars per 1000 people. According to Wards, Italy had the second highest vehicle ownership per capita in 2010, Germany had a rate of motorization of 534 vehicles per 1000 people and the UK of 525 vehicles per 1000 inhabitants, both in 2008. France had a rate of 575 vehicles per 1000 people and Spain 608 vehicles per 1000 people in 2007, portugal, between 1991 and 2002 grew up 220% on its motorization rate, having had in 2002,560 cars per 1000 people. Italy also leads in alternative fuel vehicles, with a fleet of 779,090 natural gas vehicles as of June 2012, sweden, with 225,000 flexible-fuel vehicles, has the largest flexifuel fleet in Europe by mid-2011. According to Wards, the United States has the largest fleet of vehicles in the world. Vehicle ownership per capita in the U. S. is also the highest in the world with 769 vehicles in operation per 1000 inhabitants, or a ratio of 1,1.3 vehicles to people

15.
Home appliance
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Home appliances are electrical/mechanical machines which accomplish some household functions, such as cooling/heating, cooking or cleaning. Brown goods usually require high technical knowledge and skills, while white goods may need more skills and brute force to manipulate the devices. Given a broad usage, the domestic application attached to home appliance is tied to the definition of appliance as an instrument or device designed for a use or function. More specifically, Collins dictionary defines home appliance as, devices or machines, usually electrical, that are in your home, while many appliances have existed for centuries, the self-contained electric or gas powered appliances are a uniquely American innovation that emerged in the twentieth century. The development of these appliances is tied the disappearance of domestic servants. In the early 1900s, electric and gas appliances included washing machines, water heaters, refrigerators, the invention of Earl Richardsons small electric clothes iron in 1903 gave a small initial boost to the home appliance industry. In the Post–World War II economic expansion, the use of dishwashers. Increasing discretionary income was reflected by a rise in home appliances. In America during the 1980s, the industry shipped $1.5 billion worth of each year and employed over 14,000 workers. Throughout this period companies merged and acquired one another to reduce research and production costs and eliminate competitors, in the 1990s, the appliance industry was very consolidated, with over 90% of the products being sold by just five companies. White goods were painted or enameled white, and many of them still are. Small appliances are typically small household electrical machines, easily carried and installed, some such appliances were traditionally finished with genuine or imitation wood. This has become rare but the name has stuck, even for goods that are ever to have had a wooden case. See Life spans of home appliances There is a trend of networking home appliances together, for instance, energy distribution could be managed more evenly so that when a washing machine is on, an oven can go into a delayed start mode, or vice versa. Or, a machine and clothes dryer could share information about load characteristics. Internet-connected home appliances were especially prevalent during recent Consumer Electronic Show events, Appliance recycling consists of dismantling waste home appliances and scrapping their parts for reuse. The main types of appliances that are recycled are T. V. s, refrigerators, air conditioners, washing machines and it involves disassembly, removal of hazardous components and destruction of the equipment to recover materials, generally by shredding, sorting and grading. The Application Research of Small Home Appliance Product Based on Computer Aided Ergonomics, proceedings of the 2012 International Conference of Modern Computer Science and Applications

16.
Electronics
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Electronics is the science of controlling electrical energy electrically, in which the electrons have a fundamental role. Commonly, electronic devices contain circuitry consisting primarily or exclusively of active semiconductors supplemented with passive elements, the science of electronics is also considered to be a branch of physics and electrical engineering. The ability of electronic devices to act as switches makes digital information processing possible, until 1950 this field was called radio technology because its principal application was the design and theory of radio transmitters, receivers, and vacuum tubes. Today, most electronic devices use semiconductor components to perform electron control and this article focuses on engineering aspects of electronics. Components are generally intended to be connected together, usually by being soldered to a circuit board. Components may be packaged singly, or in more complex groups as integrated circuits, some common electronic components are capacitors, inductors, resistors, diodes, transistors, etc. Components are often categorized as active or passive, vacuum tubes were among the earliest electronic components. They were almost solely responsible for the revolution of the first half of the Twentieth Century. They took electronics from parlor tricks and gave us radio, television, phonographs, radar, long distance telephony and they played a leading role in the field of microwave and high power transmission as well as television receivers until the middle of the 1980s. Since that time, solid state devices have all but completely taken over, vacuum tubes are still used in some specialist applications such as high power RF amplifiers, cathode ray tubes, specialist audio equipment, guitar amplifiers and some microwave devices. The 608 contained more than 3,000 germanium transistors, thomas J. Watson Jr. ordered all future IBM products to use transistors in their design. From that time on transistors were almost exclusively used for computer logic, circuits and components can be divided into two groups, analog and digital. A particular device may consist of circuitry that has one or the other or a mix of the two types, most analog electronic appliances, such as radio receivers, are constructed from combinations of a few types of basic circuits. Analog circuits use a range of voltage or current as opposed to discrete levels as in digital circuits. The number of different analog circuits so far devised is huge, especially because a circuit can be defined as anything from a single component, analog circuits are sometimes called linear circuits although many non-linear effects are used in analog circuits such as mixers, modulators, etc. Good examples of analog circuits include vacuum tube and transistor amplifiers, one rarely finds modern circuits that are entirely analog. These days analog circuitry may use digital or even microprocessor techniques to improve performance and this type of circuit is usually called mixed signal rather than analog or digital. Sometimes it may be difficult to differentiate between analog and digital circuits as they have elements of both linear and non-linear operation, an example is the comparator which takes in a continuous range of voltage but only outputs one of two levels as in a digital circuit

17.
Machine (mechanical)
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Machines employ power to achieve desired forces and movement. A machine has a source and actuators that generate forces and movement. Modern machines often include computers and sensors that monitor performance and plan movement, the meaning of the word machine is traced by the Oxford English Dictionary to an independently functioning structure and by Merriam-Webster Dictionary to something that has been constructed. This includes human design into the meaning of machine, similarly Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines mechanical as relating to machinery or tools. Power flow through a machine provides a way to understand the performance of devices ranging from levers and gear trains to automobiles, notice that forces and motion combine to define power. More recently, Uicker et al. stated that a machine is a device for applying power or changing its direction, and McCarthy and Soh describe a machine as a system that generally consists of a power source and a mechanism for the controlled use of this power. The idea that a machine can be decomposed into simple movable elements led Archimedes to define the lever, pulley, by the time of the Renaissance this list increased to include the wheel and axle, wedge and inclined plane. The modern approach to characterizing machines focusses on the components that allow movement, wedge, Perhaps the first example of a device designed to manage power is the hand axe, also see biface and Olorgesailie. A hand axe is made by chipping stone, generally flint, to form a bifacial edge, a wedge is a simple machine that transforms lateral force and movement of the tool into a transverse splitting force and movement of the workpiece. The available power is limited by the effort of the using the tool, but because power is the product of force and movement. This amplification, or mechanical advantage is the ratio of the speed to output speed. For a wedge this is given by 1/tanα, where α is the tip angle, the faces of a wedge are modeled as straight lines to form a sliding or prismatic joint. Lever, The lever is another important and simple device for managing power and this is a body that pivots on a fulcrum. The fulcrum of a lever is modeled as a hinged or revolute joint, wheel, The wheel is clearly an important early machine, such as the chariot. A wheel uses the law of the lever to reduce the force needed to overcome friction when pulling a load. To see this notice that the associated with pulling a load on the ground is approximately the same as the friction in a simple bearing that supports the load on the axle of a wheel. However, the forms a lever that magnifies the pulling force so that it overcomes the frictional resistance in the bearing. Natural forces such as wind and water powered larger mechanical systems, waterwheels appeared around the world around 300 BC to use flowing water to generate rotary motion, which was applied to milling grain, and powering lumber, machining and textile operations

18.
Chemical substance
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A chemical substance is a form of matter that has constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. It cannot be separated into components by physical methods, i. e. without breaking chemical bonds. Chemical substances can be chemical elements, chemical compounds, ions or alloys, Chemical substances are often called pure to set them apart from mixtures. A common example of a substance is pure water, it has the same properties. Other chemical substances commonly encountered in pure form are diamond, gold, table salt, however, in practice, no substance is entirely pure, and chemical purity is specified according to the intended use of the chemical. Chemical substances exist as solids, liquids, gases, or plasma, Chemical substances may be combined or converted to others by means of chemical reactions. Forms of energy, such as light and heat, are not matter, a chemical substance may well be defined as any material with a definite chemical composition in an introductory general chemistry textbook. According to this definition a chemical substance can either be a chemical element or a pure chemical compound. But, there are exceptions to this definition, a substance can also be defined as a form of matter that has both definite composition and distinct properties. The chemical substance index published by CAS also includes several alloys of uncertain composition, in geology, substances of uniform composition are called minerals, while physical mixtures of several minerals are defined as rocks. Many minerals, however, mutually dissolve into solid solutions, such that a rock is a uniform substance despite being a mixture in stoichiometric terms. Feldspars are an example, anorthoclase is an alkali aluminium silicate. In law, chemical substances may include both pure substances and mixtures with a composition or manufacturing process. For example, the EU regulation REACH defines monoconstituent substances, multiconstituent substances and substances of unknown or variable composition, the latter two consist of multiple chemical substances, however, their identity can be established either by direct chemical analysis or reference to a single manufacturing process. For example, charcoal is a complex, partially polymeric mixture that can be defined by its manufacturing process. Therefore, although the chemical identity is unknown, identification can be made to a sufficient accuracy. The CAS index also includes mixtures, polymers almost always appear as mixtures of molecules of multiple molar masses, each of which could be considered a separate chemical substance. However, the polymer may be defined by a precursor or reaction

19.
Pharmaceutical
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A pharmaceutical drug is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy is an important part of the field and relies on the science of pharmacology for continual advancement. Drugs are classified in various ways, one of the key divisions is by level of control, which distinguishes prescription drugs from over-the-counter drugs. Other ways to classify medicines are by mode of action, route of administration, biological system affected, an elaborate and widely used classification system is the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical Classification System. The World Health Organization keeps a list of essential medicines, Drug discovery and drug development are complex and expensive endeavors undertaken by pharmaceutical companies, academic scientists, and governments. Governments generally regulate what drugs can be marketed, how drugs are marketed, controversies have arisen over drug pricing and disposal of used drugs. In the US, a drug is, A substance recognized by an official pharmacopoeia or formulary, a substance intended for use in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease. A substance intended to affect the structure or any function of the body, a substance intended for use as a component of a medicine but not a device or a component, part or accessory of a device. Pharmaceutical or a drug is classified on the basis of their origin, Drug from natural origin, Herbal or plant or mineral origin, some drug substances are of marine origin. Drug from chemical as well as origin, Derived from partial herbal and partial chemical synthesis Chemical. Drug derived from animal origin, For example, hormones, Drug derived from microbial origin, Antibiotics Drug derived by biotechnology genetic-engineering, hybridoma technique for example Drug derived from radioactive substances. An elaborate and widely used system is the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical Classification System. The World Health Organization keeps a list of essential medicines, the main classes of painkillers are NSAIDs, opioids and Local anesthetics. For consciousness Some anesthetics include Benzodiazepines and Barbiturates, the main categories of drugs for musculoskeletal disorders are, NSAIDs, muscle relaxants, neuromuscular drugs, and anticholinesterases. Euthanasia is not permitted by law in countries, and consequently medicines will not be licensed for this use in those countries. Administration is the process by which a patient takes a medicine, there are three major categories of drug administration, enteral, parenteral, and other. It can be performed in various forms such as pills, tablets. There are many variations in the routes of administration, including intravenous and they can be administered all at once as a bolus, at frequent intervals or continuously

20.
Glass
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Glass is a non-crystalline amorphous solid that is often transparent and has widespread practical, technological, and decorative usage in, for example, window panes, tableware, and optoelectronics. The most familiar, and historically the oldest, types of glass are silicate glasses based on the chemical compound silica, the primary constituent of sand. The term glass, in usage, is often used to refer only to this type of material. Many applications of silicate glasses derive from their optical transparency, giving rise to their use as window panes. Glass can be coloured by adding metallic salts, and can also be painted and printed with vitreous enamels and these qualities have led to the extensive use of glass in the manufacture of art objects and in particular, stained glass windows. Although brittle, silicate glass is extremely durable, and many examples of glass fragments exist from early glass-making cultures, because glass can be formed or moulded into any shape, it has been traditionally used for vessels, bowls, vases, bottles, jars and drinking glasses. In its most solid forms it has also used for paperweights, marbles. Some objects historically were so commonly made of glass that they are simply called by the name of the material, such as drinking glasses. Porcelains and many polymer thermoplastics familiar from everyday use are glasses and these sorts of glasses can be made of quite different kinds of materials than silica, metallic alloys, ionic melts, aqueous solutions, molecular liquids, and polymers. For many applications, like glass bottles or eyewear, polymer glasses are a lighter alternative than traditional glass, silica is a common fundamental constituent of glass. In nature, vitrification of quartz occurs when lightning strikes sand, forming hollow, fused quartz is a glass made from chemically-pure SiO2. It has excellent resistance to shock, being able to survive immersion in water while red hot. However, its high melting-temperature and viscosity make it difficult to work with, normally, other substances are added to simplify processing. One is sodium carbonate, which lowers the transition temperature. The soda makes the glass water-soluble, which is undesirable, so lime, some magnesium oxide. The resulting glass contains about 70 to 74% silica by weight and is called a soda-lime glass, soda-lime glasses account for about 90% of manufactured glass. Most common glass contains other ingredients to change its properties, lead glass or flint glass is more brilliant because the increased refractive index causes noticeably more specular reflection and increased optical dispersion. Adding barium also increases the refractive index, iron can be incorporated into glass to absorb infrared energy, for example in heat absorbing filters for movie projectors, while cerium oxide can be used for glass that absorbs UV wavelengths

21.
Steel
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Steel is an alloy of iron and other elements, primarily carbon, that is widely used in construction and other applications because of its high tensile strength and low cost. Steels base metal is iron, which is able to take on two forms, body centered cubic and face centered cubic, depending on its temperature. It is the interaction of those allotropes with the elements, primarily carbon. In the body-centred cubic arrangement, there is an atom in the centre of each cube. Carbon, other elements, and inclusions within iron act as hardening agents that prevent the movement of dislocations that otherwise occur in the lattices of iron atoms. The carbon in steel alloys may contribute up to 2. 1% of its weight. Steels strength compared to pure iron is possible at the expense of irons ductility. With the invention of the Bessemer process in the mid-19th century and this was followed by Siemens-Martin process and then Gilchrist-Thomas process that refined the quality of steel. With their introductions, mild steel replaced wrought iron, further refinements in the process, such as basic oxygen steelmaking, largely replaced earlier methods by further lowering the cost of production and increasing the quality of the product. Today, steel is one of the most common materials in the world and it is a major component in buildings, infrastructure, tools, ships, automobiles, machines, appliances, and weapons. Modern steel is generally identified by various grades defined by assorted standards organizations, the noun steel originates from the Proto-Germanic adjective stakhlijan, which is related to stakhla. The carbon content of steel is between 0. 002% and 2. 1% by weight for plain iron–carbon alloys and these values vary depending on alloying elements such as manganese, chromium, nickel, iron, tungsten, carbon and so on. Basically, steel is an alloy that does not undergo eutectic reaction. In contrast, cast iron does undergo eutectic reaction, too little carbon content leaves iron quite soft, ductile, and weak. Carbon contents higher than those of steel make an alloy, commonly called pig iron, while iron alloyed with carbon is called carbon steel, alloy steel is steel to which other alloying elements have been intentionally added to modify the characteristics of steel. Common alloying elements include, manganese, nickel, chromium, molybdenum, boron, titanium, vanadium, tungsten, cobalt, and niobium. Additional elements are important in steel, phosphorus, sulfur, silicon, and traces of oxygen, nitrogen, and copper. Alloys with a higher than 2. 1% carbon content, depending on other element content, cast iron is not malleable even when hot, but it can be formed by casting as it has a lower melting point than steel and good castability properties

22.
Aluminium
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Aluminium or aluminum is a chemical element in the boron group with symbol Al and atomic number 13. It is a silvery-white, soft, nonmagnetic, ductile metal, Aluminium metal is so chemically reactive that native specimens are rare and limited to extreme reducing environments. Instead, it is combined in over 270 different minerals. The chief ore of aluminium is bauxite, Aluminium is remarkable for the metals low density and its ability to resist corrosion through the phenomenon of passivation. Aluminium and its alloys are vital to the industry and important in transportation and structures, such as building facades. The oxides and sulfates are the most useful compounds of aluminium, despite its prevalence in the environment, no known form of life uses aluminium salts metabolically, but aluminium is well tolerated by plants and animals. Because of these salts abundance, the potential for a role for them is of continuing interest. Aluminium is a soft, durable, lightweight, ductile. It is nonmagnetic and does not easily ignite, a fresh film of aluminium serves as a good reflector of visible light and an excellent reflector of medium and far infrared radiation. The yield strength of aluminium is 7–11 MPa, while aluminium alloys have yield strengths ranging from 200 MPa to 600 MPa. Aluminium has about one-third the density and stiffness of steel and it is easily machined, cast, drawn and extruded. Aluminium atoms are arranged in a cubic structure. Aluminium has an energy of approximately 200 mJ/m2. Aluminium is a thermal and electrical conductor, having 59% the conductivity of copper. Aluminium is capable of superconductivity, with a critical temperature of 1.2 kelvin. Aluminium is the most common material for the fabrication of superconducting qubits, the strongest aluminium alloys are less corrosion resistant due to galvanic reactions with alloyed copper. This corrosion resistance is reduced by aqueous salts, particularly in the presence of dissimilar metals. In highly acidic solutions, aluminium reacts with water to form hydrogen, primarily because it is corroded by dissolved chlorides, such as common sodium chloride, household plumbing is never made from aluminium

23.
Cement
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A cement is a binder, a substance used in construction that sets, hardens and adheres to other materials, binding them together. Cement is seldom used solely, but is used to bind sand, Cement is used with fine aggregate to produce mortar for masonry, or with sand and gravel aggregates to produce concrete. Non-hydraulic cement will not set in wet conditions or underwater, rather, it sets as it dries and it is resistant to attack by chemicals after setting. Hydraulic cements set and become adhesive due to a reaction between the dry ingredients and water. The chemical reaction results in mineral hydrates that are not very water-soluble and so are quite durable in water and this allows setting in wet condition or underwater and further protects the hardened material from chemical attack. The chemical process for hydraulic cement found by ancient Romans used volcanic ash with added lime, the word cement can be traced back to the Roman term opus caementicium, used to describe masonry resembling modern concrete that was made from crushed rock with burnt lime as binder. The volcanic ash and pulverized brick supplements that were added to the burnt lime, to obtain a hydraulic binder, were referred to as cementum, cimentum, cäment. In modern times, organic polymers are used as cements in concrete. Non-hydraulic cement, such as slaked lime, hardens by carbonation in the presence of carbon dioxide which is present in the air. The carbonation reaction requires the dry cement to be exposed to air and this whole process is called the lime cycle. Conversely, hydraulic cement hardens by hydration when water is added, Hydraulic cements are made of a mixture of silicates and oxides, the four main components being, Belite, Alite, Tricalcium aluminate, Brownmillerite. The chemistry of the above listed reactions is not completely clear and is still the object of research, Cement, chemically speaking, is a product that includes lime as the primary curing ingredient, but is far from the first material used for cementation. The Babylonians and Assyrians used bitumen to bind together burnt brick or alabaster slabs, in Egypt stone blocks were cemented together with a mortar made of sand and roughly burnt gypsum, which often contained calcium carbonate. Lime was used on Crete and by the ancient Greeks, there is evidence that the Minoans of Crete used crushed potshards as an artificial pozzolan for hydraulic cement. A kind of powder which from natural causes produces astonishing results and it is found in the neighborhood of Baiae and in the country belonging to the towns round about Mt. Vesuvius. This substance when mixed with lime and rubble not only lends strength to buildings of other kinds, the Greeks used volcanic tuff from the island of Thera as their pozzolan and the Romans used crushed volcanic ash with lime. This mixture was able to set under water increasing its resistance, the material was called pozzolana from the town of Pozzuoli, west of Naples where volcanic ash was extracted. In the absence of ash, the Romans used powdered brick or pottery as a substitute

24.
Textile
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A textile or cloth is a flexible material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres. Yarn is produced by spinning raw fibres of wool, flax, cotton, hemp, Textiles are formed by weaving, knitting, crocheting, knotting, or felting. The words fabric and cloth are used in textile assembly trades as synonyms for textile, however, there are subtle differences in these terms in specialized usage. Textile refers to any material made of interlacing fibres, a fabric is a material made through weaving, knitting, spreading, crocheting, or bonding that may be used in production of further goods. Cloth may be used synonymously with fabric but is often a piece of fabric used for a specific purpose. The word textile is from Latin, from the adjective textilis, meaning woven, from textus, the word cloth derives from the Old English clað, meaning a cloth, woven or felted material to wrap around one, from Proto-Germanic kalithaz. The discovery of dyed flax fibres in a cave in the Republic of Georgia dated to 34,000 BCE suggests textile-like materials were made even in prehistoric times. The production of textiles is a craft whose speed and scale of production has been altered almost beyond recognition by industrialization, however, for the main types of textiles, plain weave, twill, or satin weave, there is little difference between the ancient and modern methods. Textiles have an assortment of uses, the most common of which are for clothing and for such as bags. In the household they are used in carpeting, upholstered furnishings, window shades, towels, coverings for tables, beds, and other flat surfaces, in the workplace they are used in industrial and scientific processes such as filtering. Textiles are used in traditional crafts such as sewing, quilting. Textiles for industrial purposes, and chosen for other than their appearance, are commonly referred to as technical textiles. Technical textiles include textile structures for applications, medical textiles, geotextiles, agrotextiles. In all these applications stringent performance requirements must be met, woven of threads coated with zinc oxide nanowires, laboratory fabric has been shown capable of self-powering nanosystems using vibrations created by everyday actions like wind or body movements. Fashion designers commonly rely on textile designs to set their fashion collections apart from others, armani, the late Gianni Versace, and Emilio Pucci can be easily recognized by their signature print driven designs. Textiles can be made from many materials and these materials come from four main sources, animal, plant, mineral, and synthetic. In the past, all textiles were made from natural fibres, including plant, animal, in the 20th century, these were supplemented by artificial fibres made from petroleum. Textiles are made in various strengths and degrees of durability, from the finest gossamer to the sturdiest canvas, microfibre refers to fibres made of strands thinner than one denier

25.
Tobacco products
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Tobacco is the agricultural product of the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. See types of tobacco and curing of tobacco for more information, once tobacco has been grown, harvested, cured, and processed, it is used to produce a number of different products. These are most often consumable, however, tobacco and the derived from it are also used to create pesticides. Tobacco products can generally be divided into two types, smoked tobacco and smokeless tobacco, an expert in tobacco and tobacco products — especially pipes, pipe tobacco, and cigars—including their procurement and sale, is called a tobacconist. The health effects of consumption are discussed in health effects of tobacco. Chewing is one of the oldest methods of consuming tobacco leaves, native Americans in both North and South America chewed the fresh leaves of the tobacco plant, frequently mixed with lime. Modern chewing tobacco is produced from cured and often fermented tobacco, Twist tobacco may be an exception in this case, as many brands of twist are not sweetened. Thus when chewing, it is common to spit and discard excess saliva caused by the release of juices from the tobacco, justifying the existence of the spittoon, or cuspidor. While spittoons are often a rarity in modern society, loose leaf chewing tobacco can still be purchased at many stores or from tobacconists throughout the United States. Chewing tobacco is manufactured in several forms, Loose leaf chewing tobacco and it consists of cut or shredded strips of tobacco leaf, and is usually sold in sealed pouches or bags lined with foil. Often sweetened, loose leaf chew may have a tacky texture, popular, modern brands of scrap sold in North America include Red Man, Levi Garrett, Jacksons Apple Jack, Beech-Nut, and Stokers. Pellets or bits consist of tobacco rolled into small pellets and they are often packaged in portable tins. Tobacco pellets are used in the manner as snus, in that they are placed between the lip and gum, and that spitting is typically unnecessary. It is suggested that the user may periodically chew the pellets lightly in order to release additional juice, Tobacco bits are almost exclusively produced under the Northern European Oliver Twist and Piccanell brands. They are thus—like snus—preponderant in the Scandinavian region, plug tobacco is made up of tobacco leaves that have been pressed together and bound by some type of sweetener, resulting in a dense, square tobacco mass. One can then directly from the mass or slice the tobacco into portions. Some types of plug may either be chewed or smoked in a tobacco pipe, plug tobacco was once a much more common product, available to many American consumers during the 19th century. Two tobacco companies that historically manufactured plug are Liggett and Lorillard, modern brands of chewing plug include rustic and simple packaging, as is the case with popular plugs like Apple Sun Cured, Browns Mule, Cannon Ball, Cup, Days Work, and Days O Work

26.
Publishing
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Publishing is the dissemination of literature, music, or information—the activity of making information available to the general public. In some cases, authors may be their own publishers, meaning originators and developers of content also provide media to deliver, also, the word publisher can refer to the individual who leads a publishing company or an imprint or to a person who owns/heads a magazine. Traditionally, the term refers to the distribution of printed works such as books, Publishing includes the following stages of development, acquisition, copy editing, production, printing, and marketing and distribution. There are two categories of book publisher, Non-paid publishers, A non-paid publisher is a house that does not charge authors at all to publish their books. Paid publishers, The author has to meet with the expense to get the book published. This is also known as vanity publishing, at a small press, it is possible to survive by relying entirely on commissioned material. But as activity increases, the need for works may outstrip the publishers established circle of writers, for works written independently of the publisher, writers often first submit a query letter or proposal directly to a literary agent or to a publisher. Submissions sent directly to a publisher are referred to as unsolicited submissions, the acquisitions editors send their choices to the editorial staff. Unsolicited submissions have a low rate of acceptance, with some sources estimating that publishers ultimately choose about three out of every ten thousand unsolicited manuscripts they receive. Many book publishers around the world maintain a strict no unsolicited submissions policy and this policy shifts the burden of assessing and developing writers out of the publisher and onto the literary agents. At these publishers, unsolicited manuscripts are thrown out, or sometimes returned, established authors may be represented by a literary agent to market their work to publishers and negotiate contracts. Literary agents take a percentage of earnings to pay for their services. Some writers follow a route to publication. Such books often employ the services of a ghostwriter, for a submission to reach publication, it must be championed by an editor or publisher who must work to convince other staff of the need to publish a particular title. An editor who discovers or champions a book that becomes a best-seller may find their reputation enhanced as a result of their success. Once a work is accepted, commissioning editors negotiate the purchase of property rights. The authors of traditional printed materials typically sell exclusive territorial intellectual property rights that match the list of countries in which distribution is proposed. In the case of books, the publisher and writer must also agree on the formats of publication —mass-market paperback

27.
Furniture
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Furniture refers to movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating, eating, and sleeping. Furniture is also used to hold objects at a convenient height for work, Furniture can be a product of design and is considered a form of decorative art. In addition to furnitures functional role, it can serve a symbolic or religious purpose and it can be made from many materials, including metal, plastic, and wood. Furniture can be using a variety of woodworking joints which often reflect the local culture. People have been using natural objects, such as stumps, rocks and moss. Archaeological research shows that from around 30,000 years ago, people began constructing and carving their own furniture, using wood, stone, early furniture from this period is known from artwork such as a Venus figurine found in Russia, depicting the goddess on a throne. The first surviving extant furniture is in the homes of Skara Brae in Scotland, complex construction techniques such as joinery began in the early dynastic period of ancient Egypt. This era saw constructed wooden pieces, including stools and tables, sometimes decorated with valuable metals or ivory. The evolution of furniture design continued in ancient Greece and ancient Rome, with thrones being commonplace as well as the klinai, multipurpose couches used for relaxing, eating, the furniture of the Middle Ages was usually heavy, oak, and ornamented. Furniture design expanded during the Italian Renaissance of the fourteenth and fifteenth century, the seventeenth century, in both Southern and Northern Europe, was characterized by opulent, often gilded Baroque designs. The nineteenth century is defined by revival styles. The first three-quarters of the century are often seen as the march towards Modernism. One unique outgrowth of post-modern furniture design is a return to natural shapes and textures, the English word furniture is derived from the French word fourniture, the noun form of fournir, which means to supply or provide. Thus fourniture in French means supplies or provisions, the practice of using natural objects as rudimentary pieces of furniture likely dates to the beginning of human civilisation. Early humans are likely to have used tree stumps as seats, rocks as rudimentary tables, during the late palaeolithic or early neolithic period, from around 30,000 years ago, people began constructing and carving their own furniture, using wood, stone, and animal bones. The earliest evidence for the existence of constructed furniture is a Venus figurine found at the Gagarino site in Russia, a similar statue of a Mother Goddess was found in Catal Huyuk in Turkey, dating to between 6000 and 5500 BC. The inclusion of such a seat in the figurines implies that these were already common artefacts of that age, a range of unique stone furniture has been excavated in Skara Brae, a Neolithic village in Orkney, Scotland. Each house shows a degree of sophistication and was equipped with an extensive assortment of stone furniture, ranging from cupboards, dressers and beds to shelves, stone seats

28.
Leather
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Leather is a durable and flexible material created by tanning animal rawhide and skin, often cattle hide. It can be produced at manufacturing scales ranging from cottage industry to heavy industry, people use leather to make various goods—including clothing, bookbinding, leather wallpaper, and as a furniture covering. It is produced in a variety of types and styles. Several tanning processes transform hides and skins into leather, Chrome-tanned leather, invented in 1858, is tanned using chromium sulfate and it is more supple and pliable than vegetable-tanned leather and does not discolor or lose shape as drastically in water as vegetable-tanned. It is also known as wet-blue for its color derived from the chromium, more exotic colors are possible when using chrome tanning. The chrome tanning method usually only takes a day to finish, and it is reported that chrome-tanned leather adds up to 80% of the global leather supply. Vegetable-tanned leather is tanned using tannins and other found in different vegetable matter, such as tree bark prepared in bark mills, wood, leaves, fruits. It is supple and brown in color, with the exact shade depending on the mix of chemicals and it is the only form of leather suitable for use in leather carving or stamping. Vegetable-tanned leather is not stable in water, it tends to discolor, so if left to soak and then dried it shrinks, in hot water, it shrinks drastically and partly congeals—becoming rigid, and eventually brittle. Boiled leather is an example of this, where the leather has been hardened by being immersed in hot water, historically, it was occasionally used as armour after hardening, and it has also been used for book binding. Aldehyde-tanned leather is tanned using glutaraldehyde or oxazolidine compounds and this is the leather that most tanners refer to as wet-white leather due to its pale cream or white color. It is the type of chrome-free leather, often seen in shoes for infants. Formaldehyde tanning is another aldehyde tanning method, brain-tanned leathers fall into this category, and are exceptionally water absorbent. Brain tanned leathers are made by a process that uses emulsified oils, often those of animal brains such as deer, cattle. They are known for their softness and washability. Chamois leather also falls into the category of aldehyde tanning, and like brain tanning, produces a porous, chamois leather is made using marine oils that oxidize easily to produce the aldehydes that tan the leather to color it. Rose-tanned leather is a variation of oil tanning and brain tanning. Rose-tanned leather tanned leaves a powerful rose fragrance even years from when it is manufactured and it has been called the most valuable leather on earth, but this is mostly due to the high cost of rose otto and its labor-intensive tanning process

29.
Brazil
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Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. As the worlds fifth-largest country by area and population, it is the largest country to have Portuguese as an official language. Its Amazon River basin includes a vast tropical forest, home to wildlife, a variety of ecological systems. This unique environmental heritage makes Brazil one of 17 megadiverse countries, Brazil was inhabited by numerous tribal nations prior to the landing in 1500 of explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral, who claimed the area for the Portuguese Empire. Brazil remained a Portuguese colony until 1808, when the capital of the empire was transferred from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro, in 1815, the colony was elevated to the rank of kingdom upon the formation of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves. Independence was achieved in 1822 with the creation of the Empire of Brazil, a state governed under a constitutional monarchy. The ratification of the first constitution in 1824 led to the formation of a bicameral legislature, the country became a presidential republic in 1889 following a military coup détat. An authoritarian military junta came to power in 1964 and ruled until 1985, Brazils current constitution, formulated in 1988, defines it as a democratic federal republic. The federation is composed of the union of the Federal District, the 26 states, Brazils economy is the worlds ninth-largest by nominal GDP and seventh-largest by GDP as of 2015. A member of the BRICS group, Brazil until 2010 had one of the worlds fastest growing economies, with its economic reforms giving the country new international recognition. Brazils national development bank plays an important role for the economic growth. Brazil is a member of the United Nations, the G20, BRICS, Unasul, Mercosul, Organization of American States, Organization of Ibero-American States, CPLP. Brazil is a power in Latin America and a middle power in international affairs. One of the worlds major breadbaskets, Brazil has been the largest producer of coffee for the last 150 years and it is likely that the word Brazil comes from the Portuguese word for brazilwood, a tree that once grew plentifully along the Brazilian coast. In Portuguese, brazilwood is called pau-brasil, with the word brasil commonly given the etymology red like an ember, formed from Latin brasa and the suffix -il. As brazilwood produces a red dye, it was highly valued by the European cloth industry and was the earliest commercially exploited product from Brazil. The popular appellation eclipsed and eventually supplanted the official Portuguese name, early sailors sometimes also called it the Land of Parrots. In the Guarani language, a language of Paraguay, Brazil is called Pindorama

30.
China
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China, officially the Peoples Republic of China, is a unitary sovereign state in East Asia and the worlds most populous country, with a population of over 1.381 billion. The state is governed by the Communist Party of China and its capital is Beijing, the countrys major urban areas include Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing, Chongqing, Shenzhen, Tianjin and Hong Kong. China is a power and a major regional power within Asia. Chinas landscape is vast and diverse, ranging from forest steppes, the Himalaya, Karakoram, Pamir and Tian Shan mountain ranges separate China from much of South and Central Asia. The Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, the third and sixth longest in the world, respectively, Chinas coastline along the Pacific Ocean is 14,500 kilometers long and is bounded by the Bohai, Yellow, East China and South China seas. China emerged as one of the worlds earliest civilizations in the basin of the Yellow River in the North China Plain. For millennia, Chinas political system was based on hereditary monarchies known as dynasties, in 1912, the Republic of China replaced the last dynasty and ruled the Chinese mainland until 1949, when it was defeated by the communist Peoples Liberation Army in the Chinese Civil War. The Communist Party established the Peoples Republic of China in Beijing on 1 October 1949, both the ROC and PRC continue to claim to be the legitimate government of all China, though the latter has more recognition in the world and controls more territory. China had the largest economy in the world for much of the last two years, during which it has seen cycles of prosperity and decline. Since the introduction of reforms in 1978, China has become one of the worlds fastest-growing major economies. As of 2016, it is the worlds second-largest economy by nominal GDP, China is also the worlds largest exporter and second-largest importer of goods. China is a nuclear weapons state and has the worlds largest standing army. The PRC is a member of the United Nations, as it replaced the ROC as a permanent member of the U. N. Security Council in 1971. China is also a member of numerous formal and informal multilateral organizations, including the WTO, APEC, BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the BCIM, the English name China is first attested in Richard Edens 1555 translation of the 1516 journal of the Portuguese explorer Duarte Barbosa. The demonym, that is, the name for the people, Portuguese China is thought to derive from Persian Chīn, and perhaps ultimately from Sanskrit Cīna. Cīna was first used in early Hindu scripture, including the Mahābhārata, there are, however, other suggestions for the derivation of China. The official name of the state is the Peoples Republic of China. The shorter form is China Zhōngguó, from zhōng and guó and it was then applied to the area around Luoyi during the Eastern Zhou and then to Chinas Central Plain before being used as an occasional synonym for the state under the Qing

31.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci

32.
Germany
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Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a federal parliamentary republic in central-western Europe. It includes 16 constituent states, covers an area of 357,021 square kilometres, with about 82 million inhabitants, Germany is the most populous member state of the European Union. After the United States, it is the second most popular destination in the world. Germanys capital and largest metropolis is Berlin, while its largest conurbation is the Ruhr, other major cities include Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf and Leipzig. Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity, a region named Germania was documented before 100 AD. During the Migration Period the Germanic tribes expanded southward, beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation, in 1871, Germany became a nation state when most of the German states unified into the Prussian-dominated German Empire. After World War I and the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the Empire was replaced by the parliamentary Weimar Republic, the establishment of the national socialist dictatorship in 1933 led to World War II and the Holocaust. After a period of Allied occupation, two German states were founded, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, in 1990, the country was reunified. In the 21st century, Germany is a power and has the worlds fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP. As a global leader in industrial and technological sectors, it is both the worlds third-largest exporter and importer of goods. Germany is a country with a very high standard of living sustained by a skilled. It upholds a social security and universal health system, environmental protection. Germany was a member of the European Economic Community in 1957. It is part of the Schengen Area, and became a co-founder of the Eurozone in 1999, Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G8, the G20, and the OECD. The national military expenditure is the 9th highest in the world, the English word Germany derives from the Latin Germania, which came into use after Julius Caesar adopted it for the peoples east of the Rhine. This in turn descends from Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz popular, derived from *þeudō, descended from Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂- people, the discovery of the Mauer 1 mandible shows that ancient humans were present in Germany at least 600,000 years ago. The oldest complete hunting weapons found anywhere in the world were discovered in a mine in Schöningen where three 380, 000-year-old wooden javelins were unearthed

33.
Foreign direct investment
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A foreign direct investment is an investment in the form of a controlling ownership in a business in one country by an entity based in another country. It is thus distinguished from foreign investment by a notion of direct control. Broadly, foreign direct investment includes mergers and acquisitions, building new facilities, reinvesting profits earned from overseas operations and intra company loans. In a narrow sense, foreign direct investment refers just to building new facility, FDI is the sum of equity capital, other long-term capital, and short-term capital as shown the balance of payments. FDI usually involves participation in management, joint-venture, transfer of technology, stock of FDI is the net cumulative FDI for any given period. Direct investment excludes investment through purchase of shares, FDI is one example of international factor movements. A foreign direct investment is an ownership in a business enterprise in one country by an entity based in another country. Foreign direct investment is distinguished from foreign investment, a passive investment in the securities of another country such as public stocks and bonds. Moreover, control of technology, management, even crucial inputs can confer de facto control, for example, Joe S. Bain only explained the internationalization challenge through three main principles, absolute cost advantages, product differentiation advantages and economies of scale. Furthermore, the theories were created under the assumption of the existence of perfect competition. Facing the challenges of his predecessors, Hymer focused his theory on filling the gaps regarding international investment, the theory proposed by the author approaches international investment from a different and more firm-specific point of view. Furthermore, Hymer proceeds to criticize the neoclassical theories, stating that the theory of capital movements cannot explain international production. Moreover, he clarifies that FDI is not necessarily a movement of funds from a country to a host country. In contrast, if interest rates were the motive for international investment. Another observation made by Hymer went against what was maintained by the neoclassical theories, in fact, foreign direct investment can be financed through loans obtained in the host country, payments in exchange for equity, and other methods. Further studies attempted to explain how firms could monetize these advantages in the form of licenses, removal of conflicts, conflict arises if a firm is already operating in foreign market or looking to expand its operations within the same market. He proposes that the solution for this hurdle arose in the form of collusion, however, it must be taken into account that a reduction in conflict through acquisition of control of operations will increase the market imperfections. The extent to which a company can mitigate risk depends on how well a firm can formulate an internationalization strategy taking these levels of decision into account

34.
External debt
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External debt is the total debt a country owes to foreign creditors, complemented by internal debt owed to domestic lenders. The debtors can be the government, corporations or citizens of that country, the debt includes money owed to private commercial banks, other governments, or international financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. Note that the use of gross liability figures greatly distorts the ratio for countries which contain major money centers such as the United Kingdom due to Londons role as a financial capital, contrast with net international investment position. In this definition, the IMF defines the key elements as follows, Outstanding, principal and interest When the cost of borrowing is paid periodically, as commonly occurs, it is known as an interest payment. All other payments of economic value by the debtor to the creditor that reduce the amount outstanding are known as principal payments. However, the definition of external debt does not distinguish between principal payments or interest payments, or payments for both, also, the definition does not specify that the timing of the future payments of principal and/or interest need be known for a liability to be classified as debt. Residence To qualify as external debt, the debt liabilities must be owed by a resident to a nonresident, residence is determined by where the debtor and creditor have their centers of economic interest—typically, where they are ordinarily located—and not by their nationality. Current and not contingent Contingent liabilities are not included in the definition of external debt and these are defined as arrangements under which one or more conditions must be fulfilled before a financial transaction takes place. Generally, external debt is classified into four heads, public and publicly guaranteed debt, private non-guaranteed credits, central bank deposits, however, the exact treatment varies from country to country. External-debt-sustainability analysis is conducted in the context of medium-term scenarios. In these analysis, macroeconomic uncertainties, such as the outlook for the current account, high external debt is believed to be harmful for the economy. There are various indicators for determining a sustainable level of external debt, while each has its own advantage and peculiarity to deal with particular situations, there is no unanimous opinion amongst economists as to a sole indicator. These indicators are primarily in the nature of ratios—i. e, comparison between two heads and the relation thereon and thus facilitate the policy makers in their external debt management exercise. Examples of debt burden indicators include the Debt-to-GDP ratio, foreign debt to exports ratio and this set of indicators also covers the structure of the outstanding debt, including, Share of foreign debt, Short-term debt, and Concessional debt in the total debt stock. A second set of indicators focuses on the short-term liquidity requirements of the country with respect to its service obligations. These indicators are not only useful early-warning signs of service problems. The dynamic ratios show how the debt-burden ratios would change in the absence of repayments or new disbursements, an example of a dynamic ratio is the ratio of the average interest rate on outstanding debt to the growth rate of nominal GDP

35.
Standard & Poor's
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Standard & Poors Financial Services LLC is an American financial services company. It is a division of S&P Global that publishes research and analysis on stocks, bonds. S&P is known for its stock market such as the U. S. -based S&P500, the Canadian S&P/TSX. S&P is considered one of the Big Three credit-rating agencies, which also include Moodys Investors Service and its head office is located on 55 Water Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City. The company traces its history back to 1860, with the publication by Henry Varnum Poor of History of Railroads and this book compiled comprehensive information about the financial and operational state of U. S. railroad companies. In 1868, Henry Varnum Poor established H. V. and H. W, Poor Co. with his son, Henry William Poor, and published two annually updated hardback guidebooks, Poors Manual of the Railroads of the United States and Poors Directory of Railway Officials. In 1906, Luther Lee Blake founded the Standard Statistics Bureau, instead of an annually published book, Standard Statistics would use 5 ×7 cards, allowing for more frequent updates. In 1941, Poors Publishing and Standard Statistics merged to become Standard & Poors Corp, in 1966, the company was acquired by The McGraw-Hill Companies, extending McGraw-Hill into the field of financial information services. As a credit-rating agency, the company issues credit ratings for the debt of public and private companies and it is one of several CRAs that have been designated a nationally recognized statistical rating organization by the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission. S&P issues both short-term and long-term credit ratings, below is a partial list, see S&Ps website for more information. The company rates borrowers on a scale from AAA to D, intermediate ratings are offered at each level between AA and CCC. For some borrowers, the company may also offer guidance as to whether it is likely to be upgraded, downgraded or uncertain, investment Grade AAA, An obligor rated AAA has extremely strong capacity to meet its financial commitments. AAA is the highest issuer credit rating assigned by Standard & Poors, AA, An obligor rated AA has very strong capacity to meet its financial commitments. It differs from the highest-rated obligors only to a small degree, a+, equivalent to A1 A, equivalent to A2 BBB, An obligor rated BBB has adequate capacity to meet its financial commitments. However, adverse conditions or changing circumstances are more likely to lead to a weakened capacity of the obligor to meet its financial commitments. Non-Investment Grade BB, An obligor rated BB is less vulnerable in the term than other lower-rated obligors. B, An obligor rated B is more vulnerable than the obligors rated BB, adverse business, financial, or economic conditions will likely impair the obligors capacity or willingness to meet its financial commitments. CCC, An obligor rated CCC is currently vulnerable, and is dependent upon favorable business, financial, CC, An obligor rated CC is currently highly vulnerable

36.
United States dollar
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The United States dollar is the official currency of the United States and its insular territories per the United States Constitution. It is divided into 100 smaller cent units, the circulating paper money consists of Federal Reserve Notes that are denominated in United States dollars. The U. S. dollar was originally commodity money of silver as enacted by the Coinage Act of 1792 which determined the dollar to be 371 4/16 grain pure or 416 grain standard silver, the currency most used in international transactions, it is the worlds primary reserve currency. Several countries use it as their currency, and in many others it is the de facto currency. Besides the United States, it is used as the sole currency in two British Overseas Territories in the Caribbean, the British Virgin Islands and Turks and Caicos Islands. A few countries use the Federal Reserve Notes for paper money, while the country mints its own coins, or also accepts U. S. coins that can be used as payment in U. S. dollars. After Nixon shock of 1971, USD became fiat currency, Article I, Section 8 of the U. S. Constitution provides that the Congress has the power To coin money, laws implementing this power are currently codified at 31 U. S. C. Section 5112 prescribes the forms in which the United States dollars should be issued and these coins are both designated in Section 5112 as legal tender in payment of debts. The Sacagawea dollar is one example of the copper alloy dollar, the pure silver dollar is known as the American Silver Eagle. Section 5112 also provides for the minting and issuance of other coins and these other coins are more fully described in Coins of the United States dollar. The Constitution provides that a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and that provision of the Constitution is made specific by Section 331 of Title 31 of the United States Code. The sums of money reported in the Statements are currently being expressed in U. S. dollars, the U. S. dollar may therefore be described as the unit of account of the United States. The word dollar is one of the words in the first paragraph of Section 9 of Article I of the Constitution, there, dollars is a reference to the Spanish milled dollar, a coin that had a monetary value of 8 Spanish units of currency, or reales. In 1792 the U. S. Congress passed a Coinage Act, Section 20 of the act provided, That the money of account of the United States shall be expressed in dollars, or units. And that all accounts in the offices and all proceedings in the courts of the United States shall be kept and had in conformity to this regulation. In other words, this act designated the United States dollar as the unit of currency of the United States, unlike the Spanish milled dollar the U. S. dollar is based upon a decimal system of values. Both one-dollar coins and notes are produced today, although the form is significantly more common

37.
Argentina
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Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a federal republic in the southern half of South America. With a mainland area of 2,780,400 km2, Argentina is the eighth-largest country in the world, the second largest in Latin America, and the largest Spanish-speaking one. The country is subdivided into provinces and one autonomous city, Buenos Aires. The provinces and the capital have their own constitutions, but exist under a federal system, Argentina claims sovereignty over part of Antarctica, the Falkland Islands, and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. The earliest recorded presence in the area of modern-day Argentina dates back to the Paleolithic period. The country has its roots in Spanish colonization of the region during the 16th century, Argentina rose as the successor state of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, a Spanish overseas viceroyalty founded in 1776. The country thereafter enjoyed relative peace and stability, with waves of European immigration radically reshaping its cultural. The almost-unparalleled increase in prosperity led to Argentina becoming the seventh wealthiest developed nation in the world by the early 20th century, Argentina retains its historic status as a middle power in international affairs, and is a prominent regional power in the Southern Cone and Latin America. Argentina has the second largest economy in South America, the third-largest in Latin America and is a member of the G-15 and it is the country with the second highest Human Development Index in Latin America with a rating of very high. Because of its stability, market size and growing high-tech sector, the description of the country by the word Argentina has to be found on a Venice map in 1536. In English the name Argentina probably comes from the Spanish language, however the naming itself is not Spanish, Argentina means in Italian of silver, silver coloured, probably borrowed from the Old French adjective argentine of silver > silver coloured already mentioned in the 12th century. The French word argentine is the form of argentin and derives of argent silver with the suffix -in. The Italian naming Argentina for the country implies Argentina Terra land of silver or Argentina costa coast of silver, in Italian, the adjective or the proper noun is often used in an autonomous way as a substantive and replaces it and it is said lArgentina. The name Argentina was probably first given by the Venitian and Genoese navigators, in Spanish and Portuguese, the words for silver are respectively plata and prata and of silver is said plateado and prateado. Argentina was first associated with the silver mountains legend, widespread among the first European explorers of the La Plata Basin. The first written use of the name in Spanish can be traced to La Argentina, a 1602 poem by Martín del Barco Centenera describing the region, the 1826 constitution included the first use of the name Argentine Republic in legal documents. The name Argentine Confederation was also used and was formalized in the Argentine Constitution of 1853. In 1860 a presidential decree settled the name as Argentine Republic

38.
Latin America
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Latin America is a group of countries and dependencies in the Americas where Romance languages are predominant. It is therefore broader than the terms Ibero-America or Hispanic America—though it usually excludes French Canada and it has an area of approximately 19,197,000 km2, almost 13% of the Earths land surface area. As of 2015, its population was estimated at more than 626 million and in 2014, Latin America had a combined nominal GDP of 5,573,397 million USD and a GDP PPP of 7,531,585 million USD. The term Latin America was first used in 1861 in La revue des races Latines, a further investigation of the concept of Latin America is by Michel Gobat in the American Historical Review. The term was first used in Paris in an 1856 conference by the Chilean politician Francisco Bilbao and this term was also used in 1861 by French scholars in La revue des races Latines, a magazine dedicated to the Pan-Latinism movement. Latin America is, therefore, defined as all parts of the Americas that were once part of the Spanish. By this definition, Latin America is coterminous with Ibero-America and this definition emphasizes a similar socioeconomic history of the region, which was characterized by formal or informal colonialism, rather than cultural aspects. As such, some sources avoid this oversimplification by using the phrase Latin America, the distinction between Latin America and Anglo-America is a convention based on the predominant languages in the Americas by which Romance-language and English-speaking cultures are distinguished. Latin America can be subdivided into several subregions based on geography, politics, demographics and it may be subdivided on linguistic grounds into Hispanic America, Portuguese America and French America. *, Not a sovereign state The concept of Latin America has been criticized by a number of intellectuals, the earliest known settlement was identified at Monte Verde, near Puerto Montt in Southern Chile. Its occupation dates to some 14,000 years ago and there is disputed evidence of even earlier occupation. Over the course of millennia, people spread to all parts of the continents, by the first millennium CE, South Americas vast rainforests, mountains, plains and coasts were the home of tens of millions of people. Some groups formed more permanent settlements such as the Chibcha and the Tairona groups and these groups are in the circum Caribbean region. The Chibchas of Colombia, the Quechuas and Aymaras of Bolivia, the region was home to many indigenous peoples and advanced civilizations, including the Aztecs, Toltecs, Maya, and Inca. The Aztec empire was ultimately the most powerful civilization known throughout the Americas, with the arrival of the Europeans following Christopher Columbus voyages, the indigenous elites, such as the Incas and Aztecs, lost power to the heavy European invasion. Hernándo Cortés seized the Aztec elites power with the help of local groups who had favored the Aztec elite, epidemics of diseases brought by the Europeans, such as smallpox and measles, wiped out a large portion of the indigenous population. Historians cannot determine the number of natives who died due to European diseases, due to the lack of written records, specific numbers are hard to verify. Many of the survivors were forced to work in European plantations, intermixing between the indigenous peoples and the European colonists was very common, and, by the end of the colonial period, people of mixed ancestry formed majorities in several colonies

39.
South America
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South America is a continent located in the western hemisphere, mostly in the southern hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the northern hemisphere. It may also be considered a subcontinent of the Americas, which is the used in nations that speak Romance languages. The reference to South America instead of other regions has increased in the last decades due to changing geopolitical dynamics. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east by the Atlantic Ocean, North America and it includes twelve sovereign states, a part of France, and a non-sovereign area. In addition to this, the ABC islands of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Trinidad and Tobago, South America has an area of 17,840,000 square kilometers. Its population as of 2005 has been estimated at more than 371,090,000, South America ranks fourth in area and fifth in population. Brazil is by far the most populous South American country, with more than half of the population, followed by Colombia, Argentina, Venezuela. In recent decades Brazil has also concentrated half of the regions GDP and has become a first regional power, most of the population lives near the continents western or eastern coasts while the interior and the far south are sparsely populated. Most of the continent lies in the tropics, the continents cultural and ethnic outlook has its origin with the interaction of indigenous peoples with European conquerors and immigrants and, more locally, with African slaves. Given a long history of colonialism, the majority of South Americans speak Portuguese or Spanish. South America occupies the portion of the Americas. The continent is delimited on the northwest by the Darién watershed along the Colombia–Panama border. Almost all of mainland South America sits on the South American Plate, South Americas major mineral resources are gold, silver, copper, iron ore, tin, and petroleum. These resources found in South America have brought high income to its countries especially in times of war or of rapid growth by industrialized countries elsewhere. However, the concentration in producing one major export commodity often has hindered the development of diversified economies and this is leading to efforts to diversify production to drive away from staying as economies dedicated to one major export. South America is one of the most biodiverse continents on earth, South America is home to many interesting and unique species of animals including the llama, anaconda, piranha, jaguar, vicuña, and tapir. The Amazon rainforests possess high biodiversity, containing a proportion of the Earths species. Brazil is the largest country in South America, encompassing around half of the land area

40.
Natural resources
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Natural resources are resources that exist without actions of humankind. This includes all valued characteristics such as magnetic, gravitational, on earth it includes, sunlight, atmosphere, water, land along with all vegetation and animal life that naturally subsists upon or within the heretofore identified characteristics and substances. Particular areas such as the rainforest in Fatu-Hiva are often characterized by the biodiversity and geodiversity existent in their ecosystems, Natural resources may be further classified in different ways. Natural resources are materials and components that can be found within the environment, every man-made product is composed of natural resources. Some natural resources such as sunlight and air can be found everywhere, however, most resources only occur in small sporadic areas, and are referred to as localised resources. There are very few resources that are considered inexhaustible – these are solar radiation, geothermal energy, the vast majority of resources are theoretically exhaustible, which means they have a finite quantity and can be depleted if managed improperly. There are various methods of categorizing natural resources, these include source of origin, stage of development, fossil fuels such as coal and petroleum are also included in this category because they are formed from decayed organic matter. Abiotic – Abiotic resources are those that come from non-living, non-organic material, examples of abiotic resources include land, fresh water, air and heavy metals including ores such as gold, iron, copper, silver, etc. For example, petroleum occurs with sedimentary rocks in various regions, Actual resources — Actual resources are those that have been surveyed, their quantity and quality determined and are being used in present times. The development of a resource, such as wood processing depends upon the technology available. Reserve resources — The part of a resource which can be developed profitably in the future is called a reserve resource. Stock resources — Stock resources are those that have been surveyed, renewability is a very popular topic and many natural resources can be categorized as either renewable or non-renewable, Renewable resources — Renewable resources can be replenished naturally. Some of these resources, like sunlight, air, wind, water, etc. are continuously available, though many renewable resources do not have such a rapid recovery rate, these resources are susceptible to depletion by over-use. Non-renewable resources – Non-renewable resources either form slowly or do not naturally form in the environment, minerals are the most common resource included in this category. Some resources actually naturally deplete in amount without human interference, the most notable of these being radio-active elements such as uranium, of these, the metallic minerals can be re-used by recycling them, but coal and petroleum cannot be recycled. Once they are used they take millions of years to replenish. Resource extraction involves any activity that withdraws resources from nature and this can range in scale from the traditional use of preindustrial societies, to global industry. Extractive industries are, along with agriculture, the basis of the sector of the economy

41.
Agriculture in Argentina
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Agriculture is one of the bases of Argentinas economy. Having accounted for nearly 20% of GDP as late as 1959, it adds, directly, agricultural goods, whether raw or processed earn over half of Argentinas foreign exchange and arguably remain an indispensable pillar of the countrys social progress and economic prosperity. An estimated 10-15% of Argentine farmland is foreign owned, one fourth of Argentine exports of about US$86 billion in 2011 were composed of unprocessed agricultural primary goods, mainly soybeans, wheat and maize. A further one third were composed of processed products, such as animal feed, flour. The national governmental organization in charge of overseeing agriculture is the Secretariat of Agriculture, Cattle Farming, Fishing, largely limited to stock-raising activities and centered on the export of cattle hides and wool, Argentine agriculture languished during the colonial era and well into the 19th century. The need for agriculture was recognized as early as 1776. Aside from the yerba mate harvest in the northeast, attempts to develop it suffered due to internal strife and lack of skill. The 1876 development of refrigerated shipping, likewise, led to the modernization of that sector. By the 1920s, Argentine exports reached US$1 billion annually, of which 99% was agricultural, maize and wheat had, by then, largely overshadowed beef production and exports. These developments were accompanied by a wave of European immigration and investments in education and infrastructure, agricultural development, in turn, led to the first meaningful industrial growth, which, during the 1920s, was mainly centered on food processing and increasingly involved United States capital. Agricultural exports provided the Argentine Treasury with generous surpluses during both World Wars and helped finance a boom in machinery and consumer goods imports between the wars and after 1945. Since 1960, according to Viglizzo, Agriculture expanded during the last 50 years from the Pampas to NW Argentina at the expense of natural forests, in parallel, productivity was boosted through the increasing application of external inputs, modern technology and management practices. Cost-cutting measures by the Juan Carlos Onganía regime led to the closure of 11 large sugar mills in 1966, however, a severe shortage of domestic credit hampered the sector somewhat, however, as growing harvests soon outstripped transport and storage capacity. A tie of the Argentine peso to the U. S and these trends were accompanied by the federal approval of GMO crops in 1995. All data refers to 2004 information by the FAO and by 2007 data from the Argentine Ministry of the Economy, around 10% of the country is cultivated, while about half of it is used for cattle, sheep and other livestock. One of the exports of the country are cereals, centered on corn, wheat and sorghum, with rice. With a total area of around 220.000 km², the production of cereals is around 100nmillion tonnes. Oilseeds became important as their international price rose during the late 20th century, of the approximately 52 million tonnes produced annually, around 92% are soybeans and 7% are sunflower seeds

42.
Industry
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Industry is the production of goods or related services within an economy. The major source of revenue of a group or company is the indicator of its relevant industry, when a large group has multiple sources of revenue generation, it is considered to be working in different industries. Manufacturing industry became a key sector of production and labour in European and North American countries during the Industrial Revolution, upsetting previous mercantile and this came through many successive rapid advances in technology, such as the production of steel and coal. Following the Industrial Revolution, possibly a third of the economic output are derived that is from manufacturing industries. Many developed countries and many developing/semi-developed countries depend significantly on manufacturing industry, Industries, the countries they reside in, and the economies of those countries are interlinked in a complex web of interdependence. Industries can be classified in a variety of ways, at the top level, industry is often classified according to the three-sector theory into sectors, primary, secondary, and tertiary. Some authors add quaternary or even quinary sectors, over time, the fraction of a societys industry within each sector changes. Below the economic sectors there are other more detailed industry classifications. These classification systems commonly divide industries according to functions and markets. Market-based classification systems such as the Global Industry Classification Standard and the Industry Classification Benchmark are used in finance, the International Standard Industrial Classification of all economic activities is the most complete and systematic industrial classification made by the United Nations Statistics Division. ISIC is a classification of economic activities arranged so that entities can be classified according to the activity they carry out. The Industrial Revolution led to the development of factories for large-scale production, originally the factories were steam-powered, but later transitioned to electricity once an electrical grid was developed. The mechanized assembly line was introduced to parts in a repeatable fashion. This led to significant increases in efficiency, lowering the cost of the end process, later automation was increasingly used to replace human operators. This process has accelerated with the development of the computer and the robot, historically certain manufacturing industries have gone into a decline due to various economic factors, including the development of replacement technology or the loss of competitive advantage. An example of the former is the decline in manufacturing when the automobile was mass-produced. A recent trend has been the migration of prosperous, industrialized nations towards a post-industrial society and this is manifested by an increase in the service sector at the expense of manufacturing, and the development of an information-based economy, the so-called informational revolution. In a post-industrial society, manufacturing is relocated to more favourable locations through a process of off-shoring

43.
Developing world
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Also, the general term less-developed country should not be confused with the specific least developed country. The term developing describes a currently observed situation and not a dynamic or expected direction of progress, since the late 1990s developing countries tended to demonstrate higher growth rates than the developed ones. There is criticism of the use of the developing country. The term implies inferiority of a country or undeveloped country compared with a developed country. It assumes a desire to develop along the traditional Western model of development which a few countries, such as Cuba and Bhutan. An alternative measurement that has suggested is that of gross national happiness. Countries on the boundary between developed and developing are often categorized under the newly industrialized countries. In the 2016 edition of its World Development Indicators, the World Bank made a decision to no longer distinguish between “developed” and “developing” countries in the presentation of its data, nobody has ever agreed on a definition for these terms in the first place. Various terms are used for whatever is not a developed country, terms used include less developed country or less economically developed country, and for the more extreme, least developed country or least economically developed country. But according to the United Nations Statistics Division, There is no established convention for the designation of developed, the World Bank classifies countries into four income groups. These are set each year on July 1, economies were divided according to 2016 GNI per capita using the following ranges of income, Low income countries had GNI per capita of US$1,025 or less. Lower middle income countries had GNI per capita between US$1,026 and US$4,035, upper middle income countries had GNI per capita between US$4,036 and US$12,475. High income countries had GNI per capita above US$12,476 and this may be by absolute numbers or country ranking. The UN has developed the Human Development Index, an indicator of the above statistics. The UN sets Millennium Development Goals from a blueprint developed by all of the countries and leading development institutions. There is an association between low income and high population growth. The terms utilized when discussing developing countries refer to the intent, other terms sometimes used are less developed countries, least economically developed countries, underdeveloped nations or Third World nations, and non-industrialized nations. Conversely, developed countries, most economically developed countries, First World nations and that is, LEDCs are the poorest subset of LDCs

44.
Emerging market
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An emerging market is a country that has some characteristics of a developed market, but does not meet standards to be a developed market. This includes countries that may become developed markets in the future or were in the past, the term frontier market is used for developing countries with slower economies than emerging. The economies of China and India are considered to be the largest, according to The Economist, many people find the term outdated, but no new term has gained traction. Emerging market hedge fund capital reached a new level in the first quarter of 2011 of $121 billion. The four largest emerging and developing economies by either nominal or PPP-adjusted GDP are the BRIC countries, the next five largest markets are South Korea, Mexico, Indonesia, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia. Iran is also considered an emerging market, in the 1970s, less developed countries was the common term for markets that were less developed than the developed countries such as the United States, Western Europe, and Japan. These markets were supposed to provide potential for profit. This term was thought by some to be politically incorrect so the emerging market label was created, emphasizing the fluid nature of the category, political scientist Ian Bremmer defines an emerging market as a country where politics matters at least as much as economics to the markets. The research on emerging markets is diffused within management literature, more critical scholars have also studied key emerging markets like Mexico and Turkey. Julien Vercueil recently proposed a definition of the emerging economies. Catching-up growth, during at least the last decade, it has experienced an economic growth that has narrowed the income gap with advanced economies. Hence, emerging economies appears to be a by-product of the current globalization, at the beginning of the 2010s, more than 50 countries, representing 60% of the worlds population and 45% of its GDP, matched these criteria. The term rapidly developing economies is being used to denote emerging markets such as The United Arab Emirates, Chile and these countries do not share any common agenda, but some experts believe that they are enjoying an increasing role in the world economy and on political platforms. It is difficult to make an exact list of emerging markets, the best guides tend to be investment information sources like EMIS and these sources are well-informed, but the nature of investment information sources leads to two potential problems. One is an element of historicity, markets may be maintained in an index for continuity, possible examples of this are South Korea and Taiwan. In an Opalesque. TV video, hedge fund manager Jonathan Binder discusses the current, Binder says that in the future investors will not necessarily think of the traditional classifications of G10 versus emerging markets. Instead, people should look at the world as countries that are fiscally responsible, whether that country is in Europe or in South America should make no difference, making the traditional blocs of categorization irrelevant. Guégan et al. also discuss the relevance of the emerging country comparing the credit worthiness of so-called emerging countries to so-called developed countries

45.
FTSE Group
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FTSE Group, formerly FTSE Group, is a British provider of stock market indices and associated data services, wholly owned by the London Stock Exchange and operating out of premises in Canary Wharf. It operates the well known UK FTSE100 Index and the Russell 2000 as well as a number of other indices, FTSE stands for Financial Times Stock Exchange. The FTSE Group was created in 1995 by Pearson and the London Stock Exchange Group, FTSE Japan, based in Tokyo, was launched in 2003. In 2010, the joint venture with Xinhua Finance was terminated, the series was renamed into FTSE China Index Series. In 2011, Pearson sold its stake to LSE, FTSE Group operates 250,000 indices calculated across 80 countries and in 2015 was the number three provider of indices worldwide by revenue. FTSE Group earns around 60 per cent of revenue from subscription fees and 40 per cent from licensing for index-based products. Clients include both active and passive fund managers, consultants, asset owners, sell-side firms and financial data vendors, fTSE’s products are used by market participants worldwide for investment analysis, performance measurement, asset allocation and hedging. FTSE also provides many exchanges around the world with their domestic indices, FTSE Group operates the well known FTSE100 Index and FTSE250 Index as well as over 200,000 other indices, including 600 real-time indices. There are seven main groups of indices, Global Equity, Regional and Partner, Fixed Income, Real Estate, Alternative Investment, Responsible Investment, fees from the use of index information and associated services generate revenues necessary to continue operations. FTSE has offices in London, New York City, Paris, Frankfurt, Madrid, Milan, San Francisco, Beijing, Sydney, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Toronto. FTSE350 Index FTSE All-Share Index FTSE SmallCap Index FTSE4Good Index FTSE AIM UK50 Index FTSE AIM100 Index FTSE AIM All-Share Index FTSE MIB FTSE MTIRS – interest rate swap index Official site

46.
G-20 major economies
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The G20 is an international forum for the governments and central bank governors from 20 major economies. It was founded in 1999 with the aim of studying, reviewing and it seeks to address issues that go beyond the responsibilities of any one organization. The EU is represented by the European Commission and by the European Central Bank, collectively, the G20 economies account for around 85% of the gross world product, 80% of world trade, and two-thirds of the world population. Since its inception, the G20s membership policies have been criticized by numerous intellectuals, the heads of the G20 nations met semi-annually at G20 summits between 2009 and 2010. Since the November 2011 Cannes summit, all G20 summits have been held annually, the G20 superseded the G33, and was foreshadowed at the Cologne Summit of the G7 in June 1999, but was only formally established at the G7 Finance Ministers meeting on 26 September 1999. The inaugural meeting took place on 15–16 December 1999 in Berlin, Canadian finance minister Paul Martin was chosen to be the first chairman and German finance minister Hans Eichel hosted the inaugural meeting. According to researchers at the Brookings Institution, the group was founded primarily at the initiative of Eichel, however, some sources identify the G20 as a joint creation of Germany and the United States. Though the G20s primary focus is global economic governance, the themes of its summits vary from year to year, for example, the theme of the 2006 G20 ministerial meeting was Building and Sustaining Prosperity. Trevor A. Manuel, the South African Minister of Finance, was the chairperson of the G20 when South Africa hosted the secretariat in 2007, Spain and the Netherlands were included in the summit by French invitation. Despite lacking any formal ability to enforce rules, the G20s prominent membership gives it a strong input on global policy, however, there remain disputes over the legitimacy of the G20, and criticisms of its organisation and the efficacy of its declarations. After the 2008 debut summit in Washington, D. C, G20 leaders met twice a year in London and Pittsburgh in 2009, Toronto and Seoul in 2010. Since 2011, when France chaired and hosted the G20, the summits have been held once a year. The summit in 2016 was held in China and the in 2017 in Baden-Baden, a number of other ministerial-level G20 meetings have been held since 2010. In March 2014, Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, as host of the 2014 G20 summit in Brisbane, Germany will be hosting the 2017 summit, while Argentina will be the host in 2018. To decide which member nation gets to chair the G20 leaders meeting for a given year, each group holds a maximum of four nations. This system has been in place since 2010, when South Korea, the table below lists the nations groupings, The G20 operates without a permanent secretariat or staff. The groups chair rotates annually among the members and is selected from a different regional grouping of countries, the chair is part of a revolving three-member management group of past, present and future chairs, referred to as the Troika. The incumbent chair establishes a temporary secretariat for the duration of its term, the role of the Troika is to ensure continuity in the G20s work and management across host years

47.
Economic history of Argentina
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Argentina possesses definite comparative advantages in agriculture, as the country is endowed with a vast amount of highly fertile land. Between 1860 and 1930, exploitation of the land of the pampas strongly pushed economic growth. During the first three decades of the 20th century, Argentina outgrew Canada and Australia in population, total income, by 1913, Argentina was the worlds 10th wealthiest nation per capita. Beginning in the 1930s, however, the Argentine economy deteriorated notably, the single most important factor in this decline has been political instability since 1930, when a military junta took power, ending seven decades of civilian constitutional government. In macroeconomic terms, Argentina was one of the most stable and conservative countries until the Great Depression, the measures enacted during the last dictatorship also contributed to the huge foreign debt by the late 1980s, which became equivalent to three-fourths of the GNP. However, a recession at the turn of the 21st century culminated in a default. By 2005 the economy had recovered, but a judicial ruling originating from the crisis led to a new default in 2014. It lacked deposits of gold or other metals, nor did it have established native civilizations to subject to the encomienda. The sparse population was accompanied by a difficult numeracy development in the 17th century, Nevertheless, Argentina overtook Peru, which enjoyed an early rapid development in numeracy through the contact with Indios, in the middle of the 18th century. This numeracy development as a measure of early modern development demonstrates the rapid, only two-thirds of its present territory were occupied during the colonial period, as the remaining third consisted of the Patagonian Plateau, which remains sparsely populated to this day. Historians like Milcíades Peña consider this period of the Americas as pre-capitalist. Rodolfo Puiggrós consider it instead a feudalist society, based on work such as the encomienda or the slavery. This trade was limited to Spain, the Spanish Crown enforced a monopsony which limited supplies and enabled Spanish merchants to mark up prices. British and Portuguese merchants broke this monopsony by resorting to contraband trade, the British desire to trade with South America grew during the Industrial Revolution and the loss of their 13 colonies in North America during the American Revolution. To achieve their objectives, Britain initially launched the British invasions of the Río de la Plata to conquer key cities in Spanish America. When they allied to Spain during the Napoleonic Wars, they requested the Spanish authorities to open commerce to Britain in return, the actions of Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros in Buenos Aires reflected similar outcomes emanating from the other Spanish cities of South America. Colonial Brazil, for example, imported as many as 2.5 million Africans in the 18th century. By contrast, an estimated 100,000 African slaves arrived at the port of Buenos Aires in the 17th and 18th centuries, the colonial livestock ranches were established toward the middle of the 18th century

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